\dLf 




PIONEERS 
r FRANCE 

n THE 

^ WORLD 



1^1 



FRANCIS PARKMAN 













-^^0^ 



^^-^v. A^' 



^^o\ 






< 



-x\ 



^^0^ 



'^s- 



v^^ . 



o 



'Q 



.# ^^. 






,4 G 



A^ ^. 



'Z;^ 



'\^^ 



^O- 

C^^ 



rO^ 



A^^ 






V 



.^^ 









o"\^,«:'.>^ 



oN^ 



^^^ ^ 









"^.~ A"^" 



,^^ 






•'??- 
. ^ 















■^ 



"^d* 



^Ad* ;^L 



/ °'- v%^.«- ^"^^ %^\- ,/ -^^ 















^ .^ 












^^ ^ ^' -^ « ^ ^ . 



r^ 



</.. 












■^"cP^ 









#■ "^ 



"*^ 


















■^."^ 



^^- 



#' ^:^''X \ 



:^^ 



^"^. 



.0^ ^ 



Y «• 






o4 O, 



cP'.^r: 



< 



/ . . s ^ \^^ . 



^0^ 

p""^ 



^^^./^^■s 

-, c^ 

■^^0^ ^ 



'^<^. .<^ 



V - 






.r 



.4^ 9<. 









^^ 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/pioneersoffrance03park 



PIONEERS OF FRANCE 
IN THE NEW WORLD 

HUGUENOTS IN FLORIDA 
SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 



BY 

FRANCIS PARKMAN 

AUTHOR OF "the JESUITS IN NORTH AMERICA," " LA SALLE AND 

THE DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST," " MONTCALM 

AND WOLFE," " THE OREGON TRAIL," ETC. 



BOSTON: 

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COxMPANY 

1907 






ItrBJIASYofOONGRESS^ 
I Two CoDies Received 

i 



M.AH SI 1907 

eoDyrigbt Encrv 
OLASS A KXcjfo. 

'7/ 707 



r?K' 



Copyright, 1865, 1885, 
By Francis Paekman. 

Copyright, 1897, 1907, 
Bt Little, Brown, and Company. 



B. J. Tarkhill & Co., Boston, U. S. A. 



1 



11 oo'^ 



TO THE MEMORY 

OF 

THEODORE PARKMAIST, ROBERT GOULD SHAW, 
AND HENRY WARE HALL, 

SLAIN IN BATTLE, 
THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED BY THEIR KINSMAN, 

THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. 



Since this book first appeared some new docu- 
mentary evidence touching it has been brought 
to light, and, during a recent visit to Florida, I 
have acquired a more exact knowledge of the 
localities connected with the French occupation 
of that region. This added information is in- 
corporated in the present edition, which has 
also received some literary revision. 

Boston, September 16, 1885. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 
Introduction xix 



HUGUENOTS IN FLORIDA. 
pEErATORT Note 



CHAPTER I. 
1512-1561. 

EARLY SPANISH ADVENTURE. 

Spanish Voyagers. — Romance and Avarice. — Ponce de Leon. 

— The Fountain of Youth and the River Jordan. — Dis- 
coverj of Florida. — Garay. — Ayllon. — Pamphilo de Nar- 
vaez. — His Pate. — Hernando de Soto. — His Enterprise. — 
His Adventures. — His Death. — Succeeding Voyagers. — ■ 
Spanish Claim to Florida. — English and French Claim. 

— Spanish Jealousy of France 



CHAPTER II. 
1550-1558. 

VILLEGAGNON. 

Spain in the Sixteenth Century. — France. — The Huguenots. 
— The Court. — Caspar de Coligny. — Priests and Monks. — 
Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon. — His Exploits. — His 
Character. — His Scheme of a Protestant Colony. — 



VI CONTENTS. 

Pagb 

Huguenots at Rio Janeiro. — Despotism of Villegagnon. — 
Villegagnon and the Ministers. — Polemics. — The Min- 
isters expelled. — Their Sufferings. — Kuin of the Colony . 20 

CHAPTER III. 
1562, 1563. 

JEAN KIBAUT. 

A Second Huguenot Colony. — Coligny, his Position. — The 
Huguenot Party, its motley Character. — The Puritans of 
Massachusetts. — Ribaut sails for Florida. — The River of 
May. — Hopes. — Illusions. — The Sea Islands. — Port Royal. 
— Charlesfort. — Albert and his Colony. — Frolic. — Adven- 
ture. — Improvidence. — Famine. — Mutiny. — Barre takes 
Command. — A Brigantine built. — Florida abandoned.— * 
Tempest. — Desperation. — Cannibalism 33 

CHAPTER IV. 
1564. 

LAUDONNltlRE. 

The New Colony. — Rene de Laudonniere. — The Peace of ^ m* 
boise. — Satouriona. — The Promised Land. — Miraculous 
Longevity. — Fort Caroline. — Native Tribes. — Ottigny ex- 
plores the St. John's. — River Scenery. — The Thimagoas. — 
Conflicting Alliances. — Indian War. — Diplomacy of Lau- 
donniere. — Vasseur's Expedition. — Battle and Victory . . 48 

CHAPTER V. 

1564, 1565. 

CONSPIRACY. 

Discontent. — Plot of La Roquette — P'.ratjcal Excursion. — 
Sedition. — Illness of Laudonniere, — The Commandant put 
in Irons. — Plan of the Mutineers. — Buccaneering.— Disaster 
and Repentance. — The Ringleaders hanged. "^ Or Jar restored 68 



CONTENTS. vii 

CHAPTER VI. 

1564, 1565. 

famine. — war. — succor. 

Page 
La Roche Ferriere. — Pierre Gambia. — The King of Calos. 

— Romantic Tales. — Ottigny's Expedition. — Starvation. — 
Efforts to escape from Elorida. — Indians unfriendly. — Seiz- 
ure of Outina. — Attempts to extort Ransom. — Ambuscade. 
— Battle. — Desperation of the French. — Sir John Hawkins 
relieves them. — Ribaut brings Reinforcements. — Arrival of 

the Spaniards 78 

CHAPTER VII. 
1565. 

MENENDEZ. 

Spain. — Pedro Menendez de Aviles. — His Boyhood. — His 
Early Career. — His Petition to the King. — Commissioned 
to conquer Florida. — His Powers, — His Designs. — A New 
Crusade. — Sailing of the Spanish Fleet. — A Storm. — Porto 
Rico. — Energy of Menendez. — He reaches Florida. — At- 
tacks Ribaut's Ships. — Founds St. Augustine. — Alarm of 
the French. — Bold Decision of Ribaut. — Defenceless Con- 
dition of Fort Caroline. — Ribaut thwarted. — Tempest. — 
Menendez marches on the French Fort. — His Desperate Res- 
olution. — The Fort taken. — The Massacre. — The Fugitives 96 

CHAPTER VIII. 
1565. 

MASSACRE OF THE HERETICS. 

Menendez returns to St. Augustine. — Tidings of the French. 
— Ribaut shipwrecked. — The March of Menendez. — He dis- 
covers the French. — Interviews. — Hopes of Mercy. — Sur- 
render of the French. — Massacre. — Return to St. Augus- 
tine. — Tidings of Ribaut's Party. — His Interview with 
Menendez. — Deceived and betrayed. — Murdered. — Another 
Massacre. — French Accounts. — Schemes of the Spaniards. 

— Survivors of the Carnage 131 



vm CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX 

1565-1567. 

charles ix. and philip ii. 

Page 

State of International Relations. — Complaints of Philip the 
Second. — Reply of Charles the Ninth. — News of the Mas- 
sacre. — The French Court demands Redress. — The Spanish 
Court refuses it 152 

CHAPTER X. 
1567-1583. 

DOMINIQUE DE GOURGUES. 

His Past Life. — His Hatred of Spaniards. — Resolves on Veil' 
geance. — His Band of Adventurers. — His Plan divulged. — 
His Speech. — Enthusiasm of his Followers. — Condition of 
the Spaniards. — Arrival of Gourgues. — Interviews with 
Indians. — The Spaniards attacked. — The First Fort carried. 
— ^Another Victory. — The Final Triumph. — The Prisoners 
hanged. — The Forts destroyed. — Sequel of Gourgues's 
Career. — Menendez. — His Death 158 



CONTENTS. ix 



CHAMPLAIN AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 

Page 
Pkefatory Note 185 



CHAPTER I. 

1488-1543. 

EARLY FRENCH ADVENTURE IN NORTH AMERICA. 

Traditions of French Discovery. — Cousin. — Normans, Bretons, 
Basques. — Legends and Superstitions. — Francis the First. — 
Verrazzano. — His Voyage to North America. — Jacques 
Cartier. — His First Voyage. — His Second Voyage. — An- 
chors at Quebec. — Indian Masquerade. — Visits Hochelaga. 
— His Reception. — Mont Royal. — Winter at Quebec. — 
Scurvy. — Wonderful Cures. — Kidnapping. — Return to 
France. — Roberval. — Spanish Jealousy. — Cartier's Third 
Voyage. — Cap Rouge. — Roberval sails for New France. — 
His Meeting with Cartier. — Marguerite and the Isles of 
Demons. — Roberval at Cap Rouge. — His Severity. — Ruin 
of the Colony. — His Death 189 



CHAPTER II. 
1542-1604. 

LA ROCHE. — CHAMPLAIN. — DE MONTS. 

French Fishermen and Fur-Traders. — La Roche. — His Voyage. 

— The Convicts of Sable Island. — Pontgrave and Chauvin. 
— Tadoussac. — Henry the Fourth. — Tranquillity restored in 
France. — Samuel de Champlain. — He visits the West Indies 
and Mexico. — His Character. — De Chastes and Champlain. 

— Champlain and Pontgrave explore the St. Lawrence. — 
Death of De Chastes. — De Monts. — His Acadian Schemes. 

— His Patent o . , 233 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 

1604, 1605. 

acadia occupied. 

Page 

Catholic and Calvinist. — The Lost Priest. — Port Royal. — 
The Colony of St. Croix. — Winter Miseries. — Explorations 
of Champlain. — He visits the Coast of Massachusetts. — De 
Monts at Port Royal 250 

CHAPTER IV. 
160.5-1607. 

LESCAKBOT AND CHAMPLAIN. 

De Monts at Paris. — Marc Lescarbot. — Rochelle. — A New 
Embarkation. — The Ship aground. — The Outward Voyage. 

— Arrival at Port Royal. — Disappointment. — Voyage of 
Champlain. — Skirmish with Indians. — Masquerade of Les- 
carbot. — Winter Life at Port Royal. — L'Ordre de Bon-Temps. 

— Excursions. — Spring Employments. — Hopes blighted. — 
Port Royal abandoned. — Membertou. — Return to France . 263 

CHAPTER V. 

1610, 1611. 

THE JESUITS AND THEIR PATRONESS. 

Schemes of Poutrincourt. — The Jesuits and the King. — The 
Jesuits disappointed. — Sudden Conversions. — Indian Prose- 
lytes. — Assassination of the King. — Biencourt at Court. — 
Madame de Guercheville. — She resists the King's Suit. — 
Becomes a Devotee. — Her Associates at Court. — She aids 
the Jesuits. — Biard and Masse. — They sail for America . 281 

CHAPTER VL 

1611, 1612. 
JESUITS IN ACADIA. 

The Jesuits arrive. — Collision of Powers Temporal and Spirit- 
ual. — Excursion of Biencourt. — Father Masse. — His Ex- 
perience as a Missionary. — Death of Membertou. — Father 



CONTENTS. XI 

Page 
Biard's Indian Studies. — Dissension. — Misery at Port Royal. 
— Grant to Madame de Guercheville. — Gilbert du Thet. — 
Quarrels. — Anathemas. — Truce 295 

CHAPTER Vn. 
1613. 

LA SAUSSAYE. — ARGALL. 

Forlorn Condition of Poutrincourt. — Voyage of La Saussaye. — 
Mount Desert. — St. Sauveur. — The Jesuit Colony. — Cap- 
tain Samuel Argall. — He attacks the French. — Death of Du 
Thet. — Knavery of Argall. — St. Sauveur destroyed. — The 
Prisoners 306 

CHAPTER VIII. 
1613-1615. 

RUIN OF TRENCH ACADIA. 

The Jesuits at Jamestown. — Wrath of Sir Thomas Dale. — Sec- 
ond Expedition of Argall. — Port Royal demolished. — Equiv- 
ocal Posture of the Jesuits. — Jeopardy of Father Biard. — 
Biencourt and Argall. — Adventures of Biard and Quentin. — 
Sequel of Argall's History. — Death of Poutrincourt. — The 
French will not abandon Acadia 31B 

CHAPTER IX. 

1608, 1609. 

CHAMPLAIN AT QUEBEC. 

A New Enterprise. — The St. Lawrence. — Conflict with Basques. 
— Tadoussac. — The Saguenay. — Quebec founded. — Con- 
spiracy. — The Montagnais. — Winter at Quebec. — Spring. — 
Projects of Exploration 331 

CHAPTER X. 
1609. 

LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 

Champlain joins a War Party. — Preparation. — War-Dance. — 
Departure. — The River Richelieu. — The Rapids of Chambly. 



Xii CONTENTS. 

Page 

— The Spirits consulted. — Discovery of Lake Champlain. — 
Battle with the Iroquois. — Fate of Prisoners. — Panic of the 
Victors 346 



CHAPTER XL 

1610-1612. 

WAR. — TRADE. — DISCOVERT. \. 

Champlain at Fontainebleau. — Champlain on the St. Lawrence. 
— Alarm. — Battle. — Victory, — War Parties. — Rival Trad- 
ers. — Icebergs. — Adventurers. — Champlain at Montreal. — 
Return to Prance. — Narrow Escape of Champlain. — The 
Comte de Soissons. — The Prince de Conde. — Designs of 
Champlain 361 



CHAPTER XIL 

1612, 1613. 

THE IMPOSTOR VIGNAU. 

Illusions. — A Path to the North Sea. — Champlain on the Ottawa. 

— Forest Travellers. — The Chaudiere. — Isles des Allumettes. 

— Ottav/a Towns. — Tessouat. — Indian Cemetery. — Feast. 

— The Impostor exposed. — Return of Champlain. — False 
Alarm. — Arrival at Montreal 376 



CHAPTER XUI. 
1615. 

DISCOVERT OF LAKE HURON. 

Religious Zeal of Champlain. — R^collet Friars. — St. Francis. — 
The Franciscans. — The Friars in New France. — Dolbeau. — 
Le Caron. — Policy of Champlain. — Missions. — Trade. — 
Exploration. — War. — Le Caron on the OttaM'a. — Cham- 
plain's Expedition. — He reaches Lake Nipissing. — Embarks 
on Lake Huron. — The Huron Villages. — Meeting with Le 
Caron. — Mass in the Wilderness 394 



CONTENTS. xiii 



CHAPTER XrV. 

1615, 1616. 

the great war party. 

Pags 

Muster of Warriors. — Departure. — The River Trent. — Deer 
Hunt. — Lake Ontario. — The Iroquois Town. — Attack. — 
Repulse. — Champhun wounded. — Retreat. — Adventures of 
Etienne :^rule'. — Winter Hunt. — Champlain lost in the For- 
est. — Returns to the Huron Villages. — Visits the Tobacco 
NationVnd the Cheveux Releves. — Becomes Umpire of Indian 
Quarrels. — Returns to Quebec 409 



CHAPTER XV. 
1616-1627. 

HOSTILE SECTS. — RIVAL INTERESTS. 

Quebec. — Condition of the Colonists. — Dissensions. — Montmo- 
rency. — Arrival of Madame de Champlain, — Her History 
and Character. — Indian Hostility. — The Monopoly of Wil- 
liam and Emery de Caen. — The Due de Ventadour. — The 
Jesuits. — Their Arrival at Quebec. — Catholics and Here- 
tics. — Compromises. — The Rival Colonies. — Despotism in 
New France and in New England. — Richelieu. — The Com- 
pany of the Hundred Associates 427 



CHAPTER XVI. 
1628, 1629. 

THE ENGLISH AT QUEBEC. 

Revolt of Rochelle. — War with England. — David Kirke, —The 
English on the St. Lawrence. — Alarms at Quebec. — Bold 
Attitude of Champlain. — Naval Battle. — The French Squad- 
ron destioyed. — Famine at Quebec. — Return of the English. 

— Quebec surrendered. — Another Naval Battle. — Michel. — 
His Quarrel with Brebeuf . — His Death. — Exploit of Daniel. 

— Champlain at London 443 



XIV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVIL 

1632-1635. 

death of champlain. 

Page 
New France restored to the Frencli Crown. — Motives for reclaim- 
ing it. — Caen takes possession of Quebec. — Return of Jesu- 
its. — Arrival of Champlain. — Daily Life at Quebec. — Policy 
and Religion. — Death of Champlain. — His Character. — 
Future of New France 456 



INDEX 465 



INTRODUCTION. 



The springs of American civilization, unlike those 
of the elder world, lie revealed in the clear light of 
History. In appearance they are feeble ; in reality, 
copious and full of force. Acting at the sources of 
life, instruments otherwise weak become mighty for 
good and evil, and men, lost elsewhere in the crowd, 
stand forth as agents of Destiny. In their toils, their 
sufferings, their conflicts, momentous questions were 
at stake, and issues vital to the future world, — the 
prevalence of races, the triumph of principles, health 
or disease, a blessing or a curse. On the obscure 
strife where men died by tens or by scores hung 
questions of as deep import for posterity as on those 
mighty contests of national adolescence where car- 
nage is reckoned by thousands. 

The subject to which the proposed series will be 
devoted is that of "France in the New World," — 
the attempt of Feudalism, Monarchy, and Kome to 
master a continent where, at this hour, half a million 
of bayonets are vindicating the ascendency of a 
regulated freedom ; — Feudalism still strong in life, 
though enveloped and overborne by new-born Cen- 
tralization; Monarchy in the flush of triumphant 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

power; Rome, nerved by disaster, springing with 
renewed vitality from ashes and corruption, and 
ranging the earth to reconquer abroad what she had 
lost at home. These banded powers, pushing into 
the wilderness their indomitable soldiers and devoted 
priests, unveiled the secrets of the barbarous conti- 
nent, pierced the forests, traced and mapped out the 
streams, planted their emblems, built their forts, and 
claimed all as their own. New France was all head. 
Under king, noble, and Jesuit, the lank, lean body 
would not thrive. Even commerce wore the sword, 
decked itself with badges of nobility, aspired to 
forest seigniories and hordes of savage retainers. 

Along the borders of the sea an adverse power 
was strengthening and widening, with slow but stead- 
fast growth, full of blood and muscle, — a body 
without a head. Each had its strength, each its 
weakness, each its own modes of vigorous life : but the 
one was fruitful, the other barren ; the one instinct 
with hope, the other darkening with shadows of despair. 

By name, local position, and character, one of 
these communities of freemen stands forth as the 
most conspicuous representative of this antagonism, 
— Liberty and Absolutism, New England and New 
France. The one was the offspring of a triumphant 
government ; the other, of an oppressed and fugitive 
people : the one, an unflinching champion of the 
Roman Catholic reaction; the other, a vanguard of 
the Reform. Each followed its natural laws of 
growth, and each came to its natural result. Vital- 
ized by the principles of its foundation, the Puritan 
commonwealth grew apace. New England was pre^ 



INTRODUCTION". xvii 

eminently the land of material progress. Here the 
prize was within every man's reach ; patient industry 
need never doubt its reward; nay, in defiance of the 
four Gospels, assiduity in pursuit of gain was 
promoted to the rank of a duty, and thrift and 
godliness were linked in equivocal wedlock. Politi- 
cally she was free ; socially she suffered from that 
subtle and searching ojDpression which the dominant 
opinion of a free community may exercise over the 
members who compose it. As a whole, she grew 
upon the gaze of the world, a signal example of ex- 
pansive energy ; but she has not been fruitful in 
those salient and striking forms of character which 
often give a dramatic life to the annals of nations 
far less prosperous. 

We turn to New France, and all is reversed. Here 
was a bold attempt to crush under the exactions of a 
grasping hierarchy, to stifle under the curbs and 
trappings of a feudal monarchy, a people compassed 
by influences of the w^ildest freedom, — whose schools 
were the forest and the sea, whose trade was an 
armed barter with savages, and whose daily life a 
lesson of lawless independence. But this fierce spirit 
had its vent. The story of New France is from the 
first a story of war : of war — for so her founders 
believed — with the adversary of mankind himself ; 
war with savage tribes and potent forest common- 
wealths ; war with the encroaching powers of Heresy 
and of England. Her brave, unthinking people were 
stamped with the soldier's virtues and the soldier's 
faults ; and in their leaders were displayed, on a 
grand and novel stage, the energies, aspirations, and 



xviii INTRODUCTION. 

passions which belong to hopes vast and vague, ill- 
restricted powers, and stations of command. 

The growth of New England was a result of the 
aggregate efforts of a busy multitude, each in his 
narrow circle toiling for himself, to gather compe- 
tence or wealth. The expansion of New France was 
the achievement of a gigantic ambition striving to 
grasp a continent. It was a vain attempt. Long and 
valiantly her chiefs upheld their cause, leading to 
battle a vassal population, warlike as themselves. 
Borne down by numbers from without, wasted by 
corruption from within, New France fell at last; 
and out of her fall grew revolutions whose influence 
to this hour is felt through every nation of the 
civilized world. 

The French dominion is a memory of the past ; 
and when we evoke its departed shades, they rise 
upon us from their graves in strange, romantic 
guise. Again their ghostly camp-fires seem to burn, 
and the fitful light is cast around on lord and vassal 
and black-robed priest, mingled with wild forms of 
savage warriors, knit in close fellowship on the same 
stern errand. A boundless vision grows upon us ; an 
untamed continent ; vast wastes of forest verdure ; 
mountains silent in primeval sleep ; river, lake, and 
glimmering pool ; wilderness oceans mingling with 
the sky. Such was the domain which France con- 
quered for Civilization. Plumed helmets gleamed 
in the shade of its forests, priestly vestments in its 
dens and fastnesses of ancient barbarism. Men 
steeped in antique learning, pale with the close 
breath of the cloister, here spent the noon and even- 



INTRODUCTION. xix 

ing of their lives, ruled savage hordes with a mild, 
parental sway, and stood serene before the direst 
shapes of death. Men of courtly nurture, heirs to 
the polish of a far-reaching ancestry, here, with their 
dauntless hardihood, put to shame the boldest sons of 
toil. 

Tliis memorable but half-forgotten chapter in the 
book of human life can be rightly read only by lights 
numerous and widely scattered. The earlier period 
of New France was prolific in a class of publications 
which are often of much historic value, but of which 
many are exceedingly rare. The writer, however, 
has at length gained access to them all. Of the 
unpublished records of the colonies, the archives of 
France are of course the grand deposit; but many 
documents of important bearing on the subject are 
to be found scattered in public and private libraries, 
chiefly in France and Canada. The task of collec- 
tion has proved abundantly irksome and laborious. 
It has, however, been greatly lightened by the action 
of the governments of New York, Massachusetts, and 
Canada, in collecting from Europe copies of docu- 
ments having more or less relation to their own 
history. It has been greatly lightened, too, by a 
most kind co-operation, for which the writer owes 
obligations too many for recognition at present, but 
of which he trusts to make fitting acknowledgment 
hereafter. Yet he cannot forbear to mention the 
name of Mr. John Gilmary Shea of New York, to 
whose labors this departm^ent of American history 
has been so deeply indebted, and that of the Hon. 
Henry Black of Quebec. Nor can he refrain from 



XX INTRODUCTION. 

expressing his obligation to the skilful and friendly 
criticism of Mr. Charles Folsom. 

In this, and still more must it be the case in suc- 
ceeding volumes, the amount of reading applied to 
their composition is far greater than the citations 
represent, much of it being of a collateral and illus- 
trative nature. This was essential to a plan whose 
aim it was, while scrupulously and rigorously adher- 
ing to the truth of facts, to animate them with the 
life of the past, and, so far as might be, clothe the 
skeleton with flesh. If, at times, it may seem that 
range has been allowed to fancy, it is so in appear- 
ance only ; since the minutest details of narrative or 
description rest on authentic documents or on per- 
sonal observation. 

Faithfulness to the truth of history involves far 
more than a research, however patient and scru- 
pulous, into special facts. Such facts may be de- 
tailed with the most minute exactness, and yet 
the narrative, taken as a whole, may be unmeaning 
or untrue. The narrator must seek to imbue him- 
self with the life and spirit of the time. He must 
study events in their bearings near and remote ; in 
the character, habits, and manners of those who took 
part in them. He must himself be, as it were, a 
sharer or a spectator of the action he describes. 

With respect to that special research which, if in- 
adequate, is still in the most emphatic sense indis- 
pensable, it has been the writer's aim to exhaust the 
existing material of every subject treated. While it 
would be folly to claim success in such an attempt, 
he has reason to hope that, so far at least as relates 



INTRODUCTION. xxi 

to the present volume, nothing of much importance 
has escaped him. With respect to the general prep- 
aration just alluded to, he has long been too fond of 
his theme to neglect any means within his reach of 
making his conception of it distinct and true. 

To those who have aided him with information and 
documents, the extreme slowness in the progress of 
the work will naturally have caused surprise. This 
slowness was unavoidable. During the past eighteen 
years, the state of his health has exacted throughout 
an extreme caution in regard to mental application, 
reducing it at best within narrow and precarious 
limits, and often precluding it. Indeed, for two 
periods, each of several years, any attempt at bookish 
occupation would have been merely suicidal. A 
condition of sight arising from kindred sources has 
also retarded the work, since it has never permitted 
reading or writing continuously for much more than 
five minutes, and often has not permitted them at all. 
A previous work, " The Conspiracy of Pontiac," was 
written in similar circumstances. 

The writer means, if possible, to carry the present 
design to its completion. Such a completion, how- 
ever, will by no means be essential as regards the 
individual volumes of the series, since each will form 
a separate and independent work. The present 
work, it will be seen, contains two distinct and com- 
pleted narratives. Some progress has been made iu 
others. 

Boston, January 1, 1865. 



PKEFATORY NOTE 



TO THE 



HUGUENOTS IN FLORIDA. 



The story of New France opens with a tragedy. 
The political and religious enmities which were soon 
to bathe Europe in blood broke out with an intense 
and concentred fury in the distant wilds of Florida. 
It was under equivocal auspices that Coligny and 
his partisans essayed to build up a Calvinist France 
in America, and the attempt was met by all the 
forces of national rivalry, personal interest, and re- 
ligious hate. 

This striking passage of our early history is 
remarkable for the fulness and precision of the 
authorities that illustrate it. The incidents of the 
Huguenot occupation of Florida are recorded by eight 
eye-witnesses. Their evidence is marked by an 
unusual accord in respect to essential facts, as well 
as by a minuteness of statement which vividly pic- 
tures the events described. The following are the 
principal authorities consulted for the main body of 
the narrative : — 

Ribauld, The Whole and True Discoverie of Terra 
Florida. This is Captain Jean Ribaut's account of 



4 HUGUENOTS m FLORIDA. 

his voyage to Florida in 1562. It was "prynted 
at London," " newly set forthe in Englishe," in 1563, 
and reprinted by Hakluyt in 1582 in his black-letter 
tract entitled Divers Voyages. It is not known to 
exist in the original French. 

L'Histoire Notable de la Floride^ mise en lumQre 
par M. Basanier (Paris, 1586). The most valuable 
portion of this work consists of the letters of 
Ren^ de Laudonni^re, the French commandant in 
Florida in 1564-65. They are interesting, and, 
with necessary allowance for the position and pre- 
judices of the writer, trustworthy. 

Challeux, Discours de VHistoire de la Floride 
(Dieppe, 1566). Challeux was a carpenter, who 
went to Florida in 1565. He was above sixty years 
of age, a zealous Huguenot, and a philosopher in 
his way. His story is affecting from its simplicity. 
Various editions of it appeared under various titles. 

Le Moyne, Brevis Narratio eoru7)i quce in Florida 
Americce Provincia G-allis accidertont. Le Moyne 
was Laudonnifere's artist. His narrative forms the 
Second Part of the Grands Voyages of De Bry 
(Frankfort, 1591). It is illustrated by numerous 
drawings made by the writer from memory, and 
accompanied with descriptive letter-press. 

Coppie d'une Lettre venant de la Floride (Paris, 
1565). This is a letter from one of the adven- 
turers under Laudonni^re. It is reprinted in the 
Becueil de Pieces sur la Floride of Ternaux-Com- 
pans. Ternaux also prints in the same volume a 
narrative called Histoire mSmorahle du dernier Voyage 
faict jpar le Cap)itaine Jean Pihaut, It is of no 



HUGUENOTS IN FLORIDA. 5 

original value, being compiled from Laudonniere 
and Challeux. 

line Eeqnete au Boy^ faite en forme de Complainte 
(1566). This is a petition for redress to Cliarlea 
the Ninth from the relatives of the French massacred 
in Florida bj the Spaniards. It recounts many in- 
cidents of that tragedy. 

La Eeprinse de la Floride par le Cappitaine 
Gourgue. This is a manuscript in the Bibliothfeque 
Nationale, printed in the Becueil of Ternaux-Com- 
pans. It contains a detailed account of the remark- 
able expedition of Dominique de Gourgues against 
the Spaniards in Florida in 1567-68. 

Charlevoix, in his Histoire de la Nouvelle France^ 
speaks of another narrative of this expedition in 
manuscript, preserved in the Gourgues family. A 
copy of it, made in 1831 by the Vicomte de 
Gourgues, has been placed at the writer's disposal. 

Popelini^re, De Thou, Wytileit, D'Aubigne, De 
Laet, Brantome, Lescarbot^ Champlain, and other 
writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 
have told or touched upon the story of the Hugue- 
nots in Florida; but they all draw their informa- 
tion from one or more of the sources named above. 

Lettres et Fapiers d^Estat du Sieur de Forquevaulx 
(Bibliothfeque Nationale). These include the cor- 
respondence of the French and Spanish courts con- 
cerning the massacre of the Huguenots. They are 
printed by Gaffarel in his Histoire de la Floride 
Frangaise, 

The Spanish authorities are the following : — 

Barcia (Cardenas y Cano), Fnsayo Gronologica 



6 HUGUENOTS IN FLORIDA. 

•para la Historia General de la Florida (Madrid, 
1723). This annalist had access to original docu- 
ments of great interest. Some of them are used 
as material for his narrative, others are copied entire. 
Of these, the most remarkable is that of Solfs de las 
Meras, Memorial de todas las Jornadas de la Conquista 
de la Florida. 

Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, Belacion 
de la Jornada de Pedro Menendez de Aviles en la 
Florida (Docwmentos Ineditos del Archivo de Indias, 
III. 441). A French translation of this journal will 
be found in the Becueil de Pieces sur la Floride of 
Ternaux-Compans. Mendoza was chaplain of the 
expedition commanded by Menendez de Avilds, and, 
like Soils, he was an eye-witness of the events which 
he relates. 

Pedro Menendez de Aviles, Siete Cartas escritas 
al Rey^ Afios de 1565 y 1566, MSS. These are 
the despatches of the Adelantado Menendez to 
Philip the Second. They were procured for the 
writer, together with other documents, from the 
archives of Seville, and their contents are now for the 
first time made public. They consist of seventy-two 
closely written foolscap pages, and are of the highest 
interest and value as regards the present subject, 
confirming and amplifying the statements of Solis 
and Mendoza, and giving new and curious informa- 
tion with respect to the designs of Spain upon the 
continent of North America. 

It is unnecessary to specify the authorities for 
the introductory and subordinate portions of the 
narrative. 



HUGUENOTS IN FLORIDA. 7 

The writer is indebted to Mr. Buckingham Smith, 
for procuring copies of documents from the archives 
of Spain ; to INIr. Bancroft, the historian of the United 
States, for the use of the Vicomte de Gourgues's 
copy of the journal describing the expedition of 
his ancestor against the Spaniards ; and to Mr. 
Charles Russell Lowell, of the Boston Athenaeum, 
and Mr. John Langdon Sibley, Librarian of Harvard 
College, for obliging aid in consulting books and 
papers. 



HUGUENOTS IN FLOEIDA. 

CHAPTER I. 
1512-1561. 

EARLY SPANISH ADVENTUEE. 

Spanish Voyagers. —KoMANCE and Avarice. — Ponce de Lech. 
— The Fountain of Youth and the River Jordan. — Florida 
discovered. — Pamphilo de Narvaez. — Hernando db Soto. — 
His Career. — His Death. — Succeeding Voyagers. — Span- 
ish Claim to Florida. — Spanish Jealousy of France. 

Towards the close of the fifteenth century, Spain 
achieved her final triumph over the infidels of 
Granada, and made her name glorious through all 
generations by the discovery of America. The reli- 
gious zeal and romantic daring wliich a long course of 
Moorish wars had called forth were now exalted to 
redoubled fervor. Every ship from the New World 
came freighted Vvdth marvels which put the fictions of 
chivalry to shame ; and to the Spaniard of that day 
America was a region of wonder and mystery, of 
vague and magnificent promise. Thither adventurers 
hastened, thirsting for glory and for gold, and often 
mingling the enthusiasm of the crusader and the 
valor of the knight-errant with the bigotry of inquisi- 



10 EARLY SPAmSH ADVENTURE. [1513. 

tors and the rapacity of pirates. They roamed over 
land and sea; they climbed nnknown mountains, sur- 
veyed unknown oceans, pierced the sultry intricacies 
of tropical forests ; while from year to year and from 
day to day new wonders were unfolded, new islands 
and archipelagoes, new regions of gold and pearl, and 
barbaric empires of more than Oriental wealth. The 
extravagance of hope and the fever of adventure knew 
no bounds. Nor is it surprising that amid such wak- 
ing marvels the imagination should run wild in 
romantic dreams; that between the possible and the 
impossible the line of distinction should be but faintly 
drawn, and that men should be found ready to stake 
life and honor in pursuit of the most insane fantasies. 
Such a man was the veteran cavalier Juan Ponce 
de Leon. Greedy of honors and of riches, he em- 
barked at Porto Rico mth three brigantines, bent on 
schemes of discovery. But that which gave the chief 
stimulus to his enterprise was a story, current among 
the Indians of Cuba and Hispaniola, that on the 
island of Bimini, said to be one of the Bahamas, there 
was a fountain of such virtue, that, bathing in its 
waters, old men resumed their youth. ^ It was said, 

1 Herrera, Hist. General, Dec. I. Lib. IX. c. 11 ; De Laet, Novus 
Orhis, Lib. I.e. 16; Garcilaso, Hist, de la Florida, Part I. Lib. I. c. 3 ; 
Gomara, Hist. Gen. des Indes Occidental es, Lib. II. c. 10. Compare 
Peter Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, Dec. VII. c. 7, who says that the 
fountain was in Florida. 

The story has an explanation sufficiently characteristic, having been 
suggested, it is said, by the beauty of the native women, which none 
could resist, and which kindled the fires of youth in the veins of age. 

The terms of Ponce de Leon's bargain with the King are set forth 



1528.] PONCE DE LEON. 11 

moreover, that on a neighboring shore might be found 
a river gifted with the same beneficent property, and 
believed by some to be no other than the Jordan, i 
Ponce de Leon found the island of Bimini, but not 
the fountain. Farther westward, in the latitude of 
thirty degrees and eight minutes, he approached an 
unknown land, which he named Florida, and, steer- 
ing southward, explored its coast as far as the extreme 
point of the peninsula, when, after some farther explo- 
rations, he retraced his course to Porto Rico. 

Ponce de Leon had not regained his youth, but his 
active spirit was unsubdued. 

Nine years later he attempted to plant a colony in 
Florida; the Indians attacked him fiercely; he was 
mortally wounded, and died soon afterwards in 
Cuba.2 

The voyages of Garay and Vasquez de Ayllon 
threw new light on the discoveries of Ponce, and the 
general outline of the coasts of Florida became known 
to the Spaniards.^ Meanwhile, Cortes had conquered 
Mexico, and the fame of that iniquitous but magnifi- 

in the MS. Capitulacion con Juan Ponce sohre Biminy. He was to 
have exclusive right to the island, settle it at his own cost, and be 
called Adelantado of Bimini ; but the King was to build and hold forts 
there, send agents to divide the Indians among the settlers, and receive 
first a tenth, afterwards a fifth, of the gold. 

1 Fontanedo in Ternaux-Compans, jRecwe?'/ swr la Floride, 18, 19,42. 
Compare Herrera, Dec. I. Lib. IX. c. 12. In allusion to this belief, 
the name Jordan was given eight years afterwards by Ayllon to a 
liver of South Carolina. 

2 Hakluyt, Voyages, V. 333 ; Barcia, Ensayo Cronologico, 5. 

3 Peter Martyr in Hakluyt, V. 333 ; De Laet, Lib. IV. c. 2. 



12 EARLY SPANISH ADVENTUKE. [1528. 

cent exploit rang through all Spain. Many an impa- 
tient cavalier burned to achieve a kindred fortune. 
To the excited fancy of the Spaniards the unknown 
land of Florida seemed the seat of surpassing wealth, 
and Pamphilo de Narvaez essayed to possess himself 
of its fancied treasures. Landing on its shores, and 
proclaiming destruction to the Indians unless they 
acknowledged the sovereignty of the Pope and the 
Emperor,^ he advanced into the forests with three 
hundred men. Nothing could exceed their suffer- 
ings. Nowhere could they find the gold they came 
to seek. The village of Appalache, where they hoped 
to gain a rich booty, offered nothing but a few mean 
wigwams. The horses gave out, and the famished 
soldiers fed upon their flesh. The men sickened, 
and the Indians unceasingly harassed their march. 
At length, after two hundred and eighty leagues ^ of 
wandering, they found themselves on the northern 
shore of the Gulf of Mexico, and desperately put to 
sea in such crazy boats as their skill and means could 
construct. Cold, disease, famine, thirst, and the 
fury of the waves, melted them away. Narvaez him- 
self perished, and of his wretched followers no more 
than four escaped, reaching by land, after years of 
vicissitude, the Christian settlements of New Spain. ^ 

1 Sommatlon mix Habitants de la Floride, in Ternaux-Compans, l. 

^ Their own exaggerated reckoning. The journey was probably 
from Tampa Bay to the Appalachicola, by a circuitous route. 

^ Narrative of Alvar Nunez Cabeca de Vaca, second in command to 
Narvaez, translated by Buckingliam Smith. Cabe^a de Vaca was one 
of the four who escaped, and, after living for years among the tribes 



1539.] HERNANDO DE SOTO. 13 

The interior of the vast country then comprehended 
under the name of Florida still remained unexplored. 
The Spanish voyager, as his caravel ploughed the 
adjacent seas, might give full scope to his imagina- 
tion, and dream that beyond the long, low margin of 
forest which bounded his horizon lay hid a rich 
harvest for some future conqueror; perha^^s a second 
Mexico with its royal palace and sacred pyramids, or 
another Cuzco with its temple of the Sun, encircled 
with a frieze of gold. Haunted by such visions, the 
ocean chivalry of Spain could not long stand idle. 

Hernando de Soto was the companion of Pizarro 
in the conquest of Peru. He had come to America a 
needy adventurer, with no other fortune than his 
sword and target. But his exploits had given him 
fame and fortune, and he appeared at court with the 
retinue of a nobleman. ^ Still, his active energies 
could not endure repose, and his avarice and ambition 
goaded him to fresh enterprises. He asked and 
obtained permission to conquer Florida. While this 
design was in agitation, Cabega de Vaca, one of those 
who had survived the expedition of Narvaez, appeared 

of Mississippi, crossed the river Mississippi near Memphis, iourneyed 
westward by the waters of the Arkansas and Red River to New Mexico 
and Chihuahua, thence to Cinaloa on the Gulf of California, and thence 
to Mexico, The narrative is one of the most remarkable of the early 
relations. See also Ramusio, HI. 310, and Purchas, IV. 1499, where 
a portion of Cabe9a de Vaca is given. Also, Garcilaso, Part I. Lib. I. 
c. 3 ; Gomara, Lib. II. c. 11 ; De Laet, Lib. IV. c. 3 ; Barcia, Ensayo 
Cronologico, 19. 

^ Relation of the Portuguese Gentleman of Elvas, c. I. See Descobri- 
miento da Florida^ c. 1, and Hakluyt, V. 483. 



14 EARLY SPANISH ADVENTURE. [1539 

in Spain, and for purposes of his own spread abroad 
the mischievous falsehood, that Florida was the 
richest country yet discovered.^ De Soto's plans 
were embraced with enthusiasm. Nobles and gentle- 
men contended for the privilege of joining his 
standard; and, setting sail with an ample armament, 
he landed at the bay of Espiritu Santo, now Tampa 
Bay, in Florida, with six hundred and twenty chosen 
men, 2 a band as gallant and well appointed, as eager 
in purpose and audacious in hope, as ever trod the 
shores of the New World. The clangor of trumpets, 
the neighing of horses, the fluttering of pennons, the 
glittering of helmet and lance, startled the ancient 
forest with unwonted greeting. Amid this pomp of 
chivalry, religion was not forgotten. The sacred 
vessels and vestments with bread and wine for the 
Eucharist were carefully provided; and De Soto 
himself declared that the enterprise was undertaken 
for God alone, and seemed to be the object of His 
especial care.^ These devout marauders could not 
neglect the spiritual welfare of the Indians whom 
they had come to plunder; and besides fetters to 
bind, and bloodhounds to hunt them, they brought 
priests and monks for the saving of their souls. 

1 Relation of the Gentleman of Elvas, c. 2. 

2 Relation of Biedma, in Ternaux-Compans, 51. The Gentleman of 
Elvas says in round numbers six hundred. Garcilaso de la Vega, who 
is unworthy of credit, makes the number much greater, 

8 Letter from De Soto to the Municipality of Santiago, dated at 
the harbor of Espiritu Santo, 9 July, 1539. See Ternaux-Compans, 
Floride, 43. 



1541.] ADVENTURES OF DE SOTO. 15 

The adventurers began their march. Their story- 
has been often told. For month after month and 
year after year, the procession of priests and cavaliers, 
crossbowmen, arquebusiers, and Indian captives laden 
with the baggage, still wandered on through wild 
and boundless wastes, lured hither and thither by the 
ignis fatuus of their hopes. They traversed great 
portions of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, every- 
where inflicting and enduring misery, but never 
approaching their phantom El Dorado. At length, 
in the third year of their journeying, they reached 
the banks of the Mississippi, a hundred and thirty- 
two years before its second discovery by Marquette. 
One of thek number describes the great river as 
almost half a league wide, deep, rapid, and constantly 
rolling down trees and drift-wood on its turbid 
current.^ 

The Spaniards crossed over at a point above the 
mouth of the Arkansas. They advanced westward, 
but found no treasures, — nothing indeed but hard- 
ships, and an Indian enemy, furious, writes one of 
their officers, "as mad dogs."^ They heard of a 
country towards the north where maize could not be 
cultivated because the vast herds of wild cattle 
devoured it.^ They penetrated so far that they 
entered the range of the roving prairie tribes; for, 

1 Portuguese Relation, c. 22. ^ Biedma, 95. 

s Portuguese Relation, c. 24. A still earlier mention of the bison 
occurs in the journal of Cabega de Vaca. Thevet, in his Singularites, 
1558, gives a picture intended to represent a bison-bull. Coronado 
saw this animal in 1540, but was not, as some assert, its first discoverer. 



16 EARLY SPAOTSH ADYENTUEE. [1542. 

one day, as they pushed their way with difficulty 
across great plains covered with tall, rank grass, they 
met a band of savages who dwelt in lodges of skins 
sewed together, subsisting on game alone, and wan- 
dering perpetually from place to place. ^ Finding 
neither gold nor the South Sea, for both of which 
they had hoped, they returned to the banks of the 
Mississippi. 

De Soto, says one of those who accompanied him, 
was a "stern man, and of few words.'* Even in the 
midst of reverses, his will had been law to his fol- 
lowers, and he had sustained himself through the 
depths of disappointment with the energy of a stub- 
born pride. But his hour was come. He fell into 
deep dejection, followed by an attack of fever, and 
soon after died miserably. To preserve his body 
from the Indians, his followers sank it at midnight in 
the river, and the sullen waters of the Mississippi 
buried his ambition and his hopes. ^ 

The adventurers were now, with few exceptions, 
disgusted with the enterprise, and longed only to 
escape from the scene of their miseries. After a vain 
attempt to reach Mexico by land, they again turned 
back to the Mississippi, and labored, with all the 
resources which their desperate necessity could sug- 
gest, to construct vessels in which they might make 
their way to some Christian settlement. Their con- 
dition was most forlorn. Few of their horses remained 
alive ; their baggage had been destro3^ed at the burn- 

1 Biedma, 91. 2 Portuguese Relation, c. 30. 



1542-58.] SUCCEEDING VOYAGERS. 17 

ing of tlie Indian town of Mavila, and many of the 
soldiers were without armor and without weapons. 
Tn place of the gallant array which, more than three 
years before, had left the harbor of Espiritu Santo, a 
company of sickly and starving men were laboring 
among the swampy forests of the Mississippi, some 
clad in skins, and some in mats woven from a kind 
of wild vine.i 

Seven brigan tines were finished and launched ; and, 
trusting their lives on board these frail vessels, they 
descended the Mississippi, running the gantlet be- 
tween hostile tribes, who fiercely attacked them. 
Reaching the Gulf, though not mthout the loss of 
eleven of their number, they made sail for the Spanish 
settlement on the river Panuco, where they arrived 
safely, and where the inhabitants met them with a 
cordial welcome. Three hundred and eleven men 
thus escaped with life, leaving behind them the bones 
of their comrades strewn broadcast through the 
wilderness. 2 

De Soto's fate proved an insufficient warning, for 
those were still found who begged a fresh commission 
for the conquest of Florida ; but the Emperor would 
not hear them. A more pacific enterprise was under- 
taken by Cancello, a Dominican monk, who with 
several brother ecclesiastics undertook to convert the 



1 Portuguese Relation, c. 20. See Hakluyt, V. 515. 

2 I have followed the accounts of Biedma and the Portuguese of 
Elvas, rejecting the romantic narrative of Garcilaso, iu which fiction is 
hopelessly mingled with truth. 



18 EARLY SPANISH ADVENTURE. [1513-5a 

natives to the true faith, but was murdered in the 
attempt. 1 Nine years later, a plan was formed for 
the colonization of Florida, and Guido de las Bazares 
sailed to explore the coasts, and find a spot suitable 
for the establishment. 2 After his return, a squadron, 
commanded by Angel de Villafaiie, and freighted 
with supplies and men, put to sea from San Juan 
d'Ulloa; but the elements were adverse, and the 
result was a total failure.^ Not a Spaniard had yet 
gained foothold in Florida. 

1 Relation of Beteta, Ternaux-Compans, 107 ; Dociimentos In€ditos, 
XXVI. 340. Comp. Garcilaso, Part I. Lib. L c. 3. 

2 The spirit of this and other Spanish enterprises may be gathered 
from the following passage in an address to the King, signed by Dr. 
Pedro de Santander, and dated 15 July, 1557: — 

" It is lawful that your Majesty, like a good shepherd, appointed by 
the hand of the Eternal Father, should tend and lead out your sheep, 
since the Holy Spirit has shown spreading pastures whereon are feed- 
ing lost sheep which have been snatched away by the dragon, the 
Demon. These pastures are the New World, wherein is comprised 
Florida, now in possession of the Demon, and here he makes himself 
adored and revered. This is the Land of Promise, possessed by idola- 
ters, the Amorite, Amalekite, Moabite, Cauaauite. This is the land 
promised by the Eternal Father to the faithful, since we are com- 
manded by God in the Holy Scriptures to take it from them, being 
idolaters, and, by reason of their idolatry and sin, to put them all to 
the knife, leaving no living thing save maidens and children, their 
cities robbed and sacked, their v;alls and houses levelled to the 
earth." 

The writer then goes into detail, proposing to occupy Florida at 
various points with from one thousand to fifteen hundred colonists, 
found a city to be called Philippina, also another at Tuscaloosa, to be 
called Ccesarea, another at Tallahassee, and another at Tampa Bay, 
where he thinks many slaves can be had. Carta del Doctor Pedro de 
Santander. 

* The papers relating to these abortive expeditious are preserved 
by Ternaux-Compans. 



1541] SPANISH JEALOUSY. 19 

That name, as the Spaniards of that day understood 
it, comprehended the whole country extending from 
the Atlantic on the east to the longitude of New 
Mexico on the west, and from the Gulf of Mexico 
and the River of Palms indefinitely northward towards 
the polar sea.^ This vast territory was claimed by 
Spain in right of the discoveries of Columbus, the 
grant of the Pope, and the various expeditions men- 
tioned above. England claimed it in right of the 
discoveries of Cabot; while France could advance no 
better title than might be derived from the voyage 
of Verazzano and vague traditions of earlier visits 
of Breton adventurers. 

With restless jealousy Spain watched the domain 
which she could not occupy, and on France especially 
she kept an eye of deep distrust. When, in 1541, 
Cartier and Roberval essayed to plant a colony in the 
part of ancient Spanish Florida now called Canada, 
she sent spies and fitted out caravels to watch that 
abortive enterprise. ^ Her fears proved just. Canada, 
indeed, was long to remain a solitude; but, despite 
the Papal bounty gifting Spain with exclusive owner- 
ship of a hemisphere, France and Heresy at length 
took root in the sultry forests of modern Florida. 

1 Garcilaso, Part I. Lib. I. c. 2 ; Herrera in Purchas, HI. 868 ; De 
Laet, Lib. IV. c. 13. Barcia, Ensayo Cronologico, An. MDCXL, speaks 
of Quebec as a part of Florida. In a map of the time of Henry II. of 
France, all North America is named Terra Florida. 

2 See various papers on this subject in the Coleccion de Varios Dociu 
mentos of Buckingham Smith, 



CHAPTER II. 

1550-1558. 

VILLEGAGNON. 

Spain anb France i:n^ the Sixteenth Century. — Gaspar de Co- 
LiGNY. — Villegagnon. — His Early EXPLOITS. — His Scheme 
OP A Protestant Colony. — Huguenots at Rio Janeiro. — 
Polemics. — Tyranny op Villegagnon. — The Ministers ex- 
pelled. — The Colony ruined. 

In the middle of tlie sixteenth centurj, Spain was 
the incubus of Europe. Gloomy and jDortentous, she 
chilled the world with her baneful shadow. Her old 
feudal liberties were gone, absorbed in the despotism 
of Madrid. A tyranny of monks and inquisitors, 
with their swarms of spies and informers, their racks, 
their dungeons, and their fagots, crushed all free- 
dom of thought or speech ; and, while the Dominican 
held his reign of terror and force, the deeper Jesuit 
guided the mind from infancy into those narrow 
depths of bigotry from which it was never to escape. 
Commercial despotism was joined to pohtical and 
religious despotism. The hands of the government 
were on every branch of industry. Perverse regu- 
lations, uncertain and ruinous taxes, monopolies, 
encouragements, prohibitions, restrictions, cramped 
the national energy. Mistress of the Indies, Spain 
Bwarmed with teggars. Yet, verging to decay, she 



1550.] SPAIN AND FRANCE. 21 

had an ominous and appalling strength. Her condi- 
tion was that of an athletic man penetrated with 
disease, which had not yet unstrung the thews and 
sinews formed in his days of vigor. Philip the 
Second could command the service of warriors and 
statesmen developed in the years that were past. 
The gathered energies of ruined feudalism were 
wielded by a single hand. The mysterious King, in 
his den in the Escorial, dreary and silent, and bent 
like a scribe over his papers, was the type and the 
champion of arbitrary power. More than the Pope 
himself, he was the head of Catholicity. In doctrine 
and in deed, the inexorable bigotry of Madrid was 
ever in advance of Rome. 

Not so with France. She was full of life, — a dis- 
cordant and struggling vitality. Her monks and 
priests, unlike those of Spain, were rarely either 
fanatics or bigots ; yet not the less did they ply the 
rack and the fagot, and howl for heretic blood. Their 
all was at stake: their vast power, their bloated 
wealth, were wrapped up in the ancient faith. Men 
were burned, and women buried alive. All was in 
vain. To the utmost bounds of France, the leaven 
of the Reform was working. The Huguenots, fugi- 
tives from torture and death, found an asylum at 
Geneva, their city of refuge, gathering around Calvin, 
their great high-priest. Thence intrepid colporteurs, 
their lives in their hands, bore the Bible and the 
psalm-book to city, hamlet, and castle, to feed the 
rising flame. The scattered churches, pressed by a 



22 VILLEGAGNON. [1550. 

common danger, began to organize. An ecclesiastical 
republic spread its ramifications through France, and 
grew underground to a vigorous life, — pacific at the 
outset, for the great body of its members were the 
quiet bourgeoisie, by habit, as by faith, averse to 
violence. Yet a potent fraction of the warlike noblesse 
were also of the new faith; and above them all, pre- 
eminent in character as in station, stood Gaspar de 
Coligny, Admiral of France. 

The old palace of the Louvre, reared by the " Roi 
Chevalier " on the site of those dreary feudal towers 
which of old had guarded the banks of the Seine, 
held within its sculptured masonry the worthless 
brood of Valois. Corruption and intrigue ran riot at 
the court. Factious nobles, bishops, and cardinals, 
with no God but pleasure and ambition, contended 
around the throne or the sick-bed of the futile King. 
Catherine de Medicis, with her stately form, her 
mean spirit, her bad heart, and her fathomless depths 
of duplicity, strove by every subtle art to hold the 
balance of power among them. The bold, pitiless, 
insatiable Guise, and his brother the Cardinal of 
Lorraine, the incarnation of falsehood, rested their 
ambition on the Catholic party. Their army was a 
legion of priests, and the black swarms of countless 
monasteries, who by the distribution of alms held in 
pay the rabble of cities and starving peasants on the 
lands of impoverished nobles. Montmorency, Cond^, 
and Navarre leaned towards the Reform, — doubtful 
and inconstant chiefs, whose faith weighed light 



1541.] HIS EARLY EXPLOITS. 23 

against their interests. Yet, amid vacillation, selfish- 
ness, weakness, treachery, one great man was like a 
tower of trust, and this was Gaspar de Coligny. 

Firm in his convictions, steeled by perils and endur- 
ajQce, calm, sagacious, resolute, grave even to sever- 
ity, a valiant and redoubted soldier, Coligny looked 
abroad on the gathering storm and read its danger in 
advance. He saw a strange depravity of manners; 
bribery and violence overriding justice ; discontented 
nobles, and peasants ground down with taxes. In 
the midst of this rottenness, the Calvinistic churches, 
patient and stern, were fast gathering to themselves 
the better life of the nation. Among and around 
them tossed the surges of clerical hate. Luxurious 
priests and libertine monks saw their disorders 
rebuked by the grave virtues of the Protestant 
zealots. Their broad lands, their rich endowments, 
their vessels of silver and of gold, their dominion 
over souls, — in itself a revenue, — were all imperilled 
by the growing heresy. Nor was the Reform less 
exacting, less intolerant, or, when its hour came, 
less aggressive than the ancient faith. The storm 
was thickening, and it must burst soon. 

When the Emperor Charles the Fifth beleaguered 
Algiers, his camps were deluged by a blinding tem- 
pest, and at its height the infidels made a furious 
sally. A hundred Knights of Malta, on foot, wear- 
ing over their armor surcoats of crimson blazoned 
with the white cross, bore the brunt of the assault. 
Conspicuous among them was Nicolas Durand de 



24 VILLEGAGNOK [1551 

Villegagnon. A Moorish cavalier, rushing upon 
him, pierced his arm with a lance, and wheeled to 
repeat the blow ; but the knight leaped on the infidel, 
stabbed him with his dagger, flung him from his 
horse, and mounted in his place. Again, a Moslem 
host landed in Malta and beset the CiU Notable. 
The garrison was weak, disheartened, and without a 
leader. Villegagnon with six followers, all friends 
of his own, passed under coyer of night through the 
infidel leaguer, climbed the walls by ropes lowered 
from above, took command, repaired the shattered 
towers, aiding with his own hands in the work, and 
animated the garrison to a resistance so stubborn that 
the besiegers lost heart and betook themselves to 
their galleys. No less was he an able and accom- 
plished mariner, prominent among that chivalry of 
the sea who held the perilous verge of Christendom 
against the Mussulman. He claimed other laurels 
than those of the sword. He was a scholar, a lin- 
guist, a controversialist, potent with the tongue and 
with the pen, commanding in presence, eloquent and 
persuasive in discourse. Yet this Crichton of France 
had proved himself an associate nowise desirable. 
His sleepless intellect was matched with a spirit as 
restless, vain, unstable, and ambitious, as it was 
enterprising and bold. Addicted to dissent, and 
enamoured of polemics, he entered those forbidden 
fields of inquiry and controversy to which the Reform 
invited him. Undaunted by his monastic vows, he 
battled for heresy with tongue and pen, and in the 



1554.] HIS PROJECTED COLONY. 25 

ear of Protestants professed himself a Protestant. 
As a Commander of his Order, he quarrelled with 
the Grand Master, a domineering Spaniard; and, as 
Vice-Admiral of Brittany, he was deep in a feud 
with the Governor of Brest. ^ Disgusted at home, 
his fancy crossed the seas. He aspired to build for 
France and himself an empire amid the tropical 
splendors of Brazil. Few could match him in the 
gift of persuasion; and the intrepid seamen whose 
skill and valor had run the gantlet of the English 
fleet, and^borne Mary Stuart of Scotland in safety to 
her espousals with the Dauphin, ^ might well be 
intrusted with a charge of moment so far inferior. 
Henry the Second was still on the throne. The 
lance of Montgomery had not yet rid France of that 
infliction. To win a share in the rich domain of the 
New World, of which Portuguese and Spanish arro- 
gance claimed the monopoly, was the end held by 

1 Villegagnon himself has left an account in Latin of the expedi- 
tion against Algiers under the title, Caroli V. Imperatoris Expeditio in 
Africam (Paris, 1542). Also, an account of the war at Malta, De Bello 
Melitensi (Paris, 1553). 

He is the subject of a long and erudite treatise in Bayle, Diction- 
naire Eistorique. Notices of him are also to be found in Guerin, Navi' 
gateurs Frangais, 162; lb., Marins Illustres, 231 ; Lescarbot, HiM. de la 
Nouv. France (1612), 146-217; La Popeliniere, Les Trois Mondes, 
III. 2. 

There are extant against him a number of Calvinistic satires, in 
prose and verse, — L'Etrille de Nicolas Durand, — La Snffisance de 
Villegaignon, — L'Espousette des Armoiries de Villegaignon, etc. 

2 This was in 1548. The English were on the watch, but Ville- 
gagnon, by a union of daring and skill, escaped them, and landed the 
future Queen of Scots, then six years old, in Brittany, whence she 
was carried to Paris, and affianced to the future Francis the Second. 



26 ylLLEGAGKOK. [1555. 

Villegagnon before the eyes of the King. Of the 
Huguenots, he said not a word. For Coligny he had 
another language. He spoke of an asylum for per- 
secuted religion, a Geneva in the wilderness, far 
from priests and monks and Francis of Guise. The 
Admiral gave him a ready ear; if, indeed, he himself 
had not first conceived the plan. Yet to the King, 
an active burner of Huguenots, Coligny too urged it 
as an enterprise, not for the Faith, but for France. 
In secret, Geneva was made privy to it, and Cahdn 
himself embraced it with zeal. The enterprise, in 
fact, had a double character, political as well as 
religious. It was the reply of France, the most 
emphatic she had yet made, to the Papal bull which 
gave all the western hemisphere to Portugal and 
Spain; and, as if to point her answer, she sent, 
not Frenchmen only, but Protestant Frenchmen, to 
plant the fleur-de-lis on the shores of the New 
World. 

Two vessels were made ready, in the name of the 
King. The body of the emigration was Huguenot, 
mingled with young nobles, restless, idle, and poor, 
with reckless artisans, and piratical sailors from the 
Norman and Breton seaports. They put to sea from 
Havre on the twelfth of July, 1555, and early in 
November saw the shores of Brazil. Entering the 
harbor of Rio Janeiro, then called Ganabara, Ville- 
gagnon landed men and stores on an island, built 
huts, and threw up earthworks. In anticipation of 
future triumphs, the whole continent, by a strange 



1557.] HUGUENOTS AT RIO JANEIRO. 27 

perversion of language, was called Antarctic France, 
while the fort received the name of Coligny. 

Villegagnon signalized his new-born Protestantism 
by an intolerable solicitude for the manners and 
morals of his followers. The whip and the pillory 
requited the least offence. The wild and discordant 
crew, starved and flogged for a season into submis- 
sion, conspired at length to rid themselves of him; 
but while they debated whether to poison him, blow 
him up, or murder him and his officers in their sleep, 
three Scotch soldiers, probably Calvinists, revealed 
the plot, and the vigorous hand of the commandant 
crushed it in the bud. 

But how was the colony to subsist ? Their island 
was too small for culture, while the mainland was 
infested with hostile tribes, and threatened by the 
Portuguese, who regarded the French occupancy as 
a violation of their domain. 

Meanwhile, in France, Huguenot influence, aided 
by ardent letters sent home by Villegagnon in the 
returning ships, was urging on the work. Nor were 
the Catholic chiefs averse to an enterprise which, by 
colonizing heresy, might tend to relieve France of its 
presence. Another embarkation was prepared, in 
the name of Henry the Second, under Bois-Lecomte, 
a nephew of Villegagnon. Most of the emigrants 
were Huguenots. Geneva sent a large deputation, 
and among them several ministers, full of zeal for 
their land of promise and their new church in the 
wilderness. There were five young women, also, 



28 VILLEGAGNON. [1557. 

with a matron to watch over them. Soldiers, emi- 
grants, and sailors, two hundred and ninety in all, 
were embarked in three vessels ; and, to the sound of 
cannon, drums, fifes, and trumpets, they unfurled 
their sails at Honfieur. They were no sooner on the 
high seas than the piratical character of the Norman 
sailors, in no way exceptional at that day, began to 
declare itself. They hailed every vessel weaker than 
themselves, pretended to be short of provisions, and 
demanded leave to buy them; then, boarding the 
stranger, plundered her from stem to stern. After a 
passage of four months, on the ninth of March, 1557, 
they entered the port of Ganabara, and saw the fleur- 
de-lis floating above the walls of Fort Coligny. Amid 
salutes of cannon, the boats, crowded with sea-worn 
emigrants, moved towards the landing. It was an 
edifying scene when Villegagnon, in the picturesque 
attire which marked the warlike nobles of the period, 
came down to the shore to greet the sombre ministers 
of Calvin. With hands uplifted and eyes raised to 
heaven, he bade them welcome to the new asylum of 
the faithful ; then launched into a long harangue full 
of zeal and unction. ^ His discourse finished, he led 

1 De Lery, Historia Navigationis in Brasiliam (1586), 43. De Lery 
was one of the ministers. His account is long and very curious. His 
work was published in French, in 1578 and 1611. The Latin version 
has appeared under several forms, and is to be found in the Second 
Part of De Bry, decorated with a profusion of engravings, including 
portraits of a great variety of devils, with which, it seems, Brazil was 
overrun, conspicuous among whom is one with the body of a bear and 
the head of a man. This ungainly fiend is also depicted in the edition 
of 1586, The conception, a novelty in demonology, was clearly derived 



1557.] POLEMICS. 29 

the way to the dining-hall. If the redundancy of 
spiritual aliment had surpassed their expectations, 
the ministers were little prepared for the meagre 
provision which awaited their temporal cravings ; for, 
with appetites whetted by the sea, they found them- 
selves seated at a board whereof, as one of them com- 
plains, the choicest dish was a dried fish, and the 
only beverage rain-water. They found their conso- 
lation in the inward graces of the commandant, whom 
they likened to the Apostle Paul. 

For a time all was ardor and hope. Men of birth 
and station, and the ministers themselves, labored 
with pick and shovel to finish the fort. Every day 
exhortations, sermons, prayers, foUow^ed in close suc- 
cession, and Villegagnon was always present, kneel- 
ing on a velvet cushion brought after him by a page. 
Soon, however, he fell into sharp controversy with 
the ministers upon points of faith. Among the emi- 
grants was a student of the Sorbonne, one Cointac, 
between whom and the ministers arose a fierce and 
unintermitted war of words. Is it lawful to mix 
water mth the wine of the Eucharist? May the 
sacramental bread be made of meal of Indian corn? 
These and similar points of dispute filled the fort 

from ancient representations of that singular product of Brazil, the 
sloth. In the curious work of Andre Thevet, Les Singularites de la 
France Antarctique, autrement nommee Amerique, published in 1558, ap- 
pears the portraiture of this animal, the body being that " d'un petit 
ours," and the face that of an intelligent man. Theret, however, 
though a firm believer in devils of all kinds, suspects nothing demoni- 
acal in his sloth, which he held for some time in captivity, and describes 
as " une beste assez estrange." 



30 yiLLEGAGNON. [1557. 

with wranglings, begetting cliques, factions, and 
feuds witliout number. Villegagnon took part with 
the student, and between them they devised a new 
doctrine, abhorrent alike to Geneva and to Rome. 
The advent of this nondescript heresy was the signal 
of redoubled strife.^ The dogmatic stiffness of the 
Geneva ministers chafed Villegagnon to fury. He 
felt himself, too, in a false position. On one side he 
depended on the Protestant, Coligny; on the other, 
he feared the Court. There were Catholics in the 
colony who might report him as an open heretic. 
On this point his doubts were set at rest ; for a ship 
from France brought him a letter from the Cardinal 
of Lorraine, couched, it is said, in terms which 
restored him forthwith to the bosom of the Church. 
Villegagnon now affirmed that he had been deceived 
in Calvin, and pronounced him a "frightful heretic." 
He became despotic beyond measure, and would bear 
no opposition. The ministers, reduced nearly to 
starvation, found themselves under a tyranny worse 
than that from which they had fled. 

At length he drove them from the fort, and forced 
them to bivouac on the mainland, at the risk of being 
butchered by Indians, until a vessel loading with 
Brazil-wood in the harbor should be ready to carry 
them back to France. Having rid himself of the 
ministers, he caused three of the more zealous 

^ The history of these theological squabbles is given in detail iu the 
Histoire des Choses Memorahles adrenues en la Terre du Bre'sil (Geneve, 
1561). The author was an eje-wituess. De Le'ry also enlarges upon 
them. 



1557.] THE COLONY RUINED. 31 

Calvinists to be seized, dragged to the edge of a rock, 
and thrown into the sea.^ A fourth, equally obnox- 
ious, but who, being a tailor, could ill be spared, was 
permitted to live on condition of recantation. Then, 
mustering the colonists, he w^arned them to shun the 
heresies of Luther and Calvin; threatened that all 
who openly professed those detestable doctrines 
should share the fate of their three comrades; and, 
liis harangue over, feasted the whole assembly, in 
token, says the narrator, of joy and triumph. ^ 

Meanwhile, in their crazy vessel, the banished 
ministers drifted slowly on their way. Storms fell 
upon them, their provisions failed, their water-casks 
were empty, and, tossing in the wilderness of waves, 
or rocking on the long swells of subsiding gales, they 
sank almost to despair. In their famine they chewed 
the Brazil-wood with which the vessel was laden, 
devoured every scrap of leather, singed and ate the 
horn of lanterns, hunted rats through the hold, and 
sold them to each other at enormous prices. At 
length, stretched on the deck, sick, listless, attenu- 
ated, and scarcely able to move a limb, they descried 
across the waste of sea the faint, cloud-like line that 
marked the coast of Brittany. Their perils were not 
past; for, if we may believe one of them, Jean de 
L^ry, they bore a sealed letter from Villegagnon to 

1 Histoire des Choses Memorables, 44. 

2 Histoire des Choses Me'morahles, 46. Compare Barre, Lettres stir 
la Navigation du Chevalier de Villegagnon (Paris, 1558). Original docu- 
ments concerning Villegagnon will be found in Gaffarel, Bresil Fran- 
^ais, Appendix. 



32 VILLEGAGNON". [1558. 

the magistrates of the first French port at which they 
might arrive. It denounced them as heretics, worthy 
to be burned. Happily, the magistrates leaned to 
the Reform, and the malice of the commandant failed 
of its victims. 

Villegagnon himself soon sailed for France, leaving 
the wretched colony to its fate. He presently entered 
the lists against Calvin, and engaged him in a hot 
controversial war, in which, according to some of his 
contemporaries, the knight often worsted the theo- 
logian at his own weapons. Before the year 1558 
was closed, Ganabara fell a prey to the Portuguese. 
They set upon it in force, battered down the fort, 
and slew the feeble garrison, or drove them to a 
miserable refuge among the Indians. Spain and 
Portugal made good their claim to the vast domain, 
the mighty vegetation, and undeveloped riches of 
"Antarctic France." 



CHAPTER III. 

1562, 1563. 

JEAN RIBAUT. 

The Huguenot Party, its motley Character. — Ribaut sails 
FOR Florida. — The River of May. —Hopes. — Illusions. — 
Port Royal. — Charlesfort. — Frolic. — Improvidence. — 
Famine — Mutiny. — Florida abandoned. — Desperation. — 
Cannibalism. 

In the year 1562 a cloud of black and deadly por- 
tent was thickening over France. Surely and swiftly 
she glided towards the abyss of the religious wars. 
None could pierce the future, perhaps none dared 
to contemplate it: the wild rage of fanaticism and 
hate, friend grappling with friend, brother with 
brother, father with son; altars profaned, hearth- 
stones made desolate, the robes of Justice herself 
bedrenched with murder. In the gloom without lay 
Spain, imminent and terrible. As on the hill by the 
field of Dreux, her veteran bands of pikemen, dark 
masses of organized ferocity, stood biding their time 
while the battle surged below, and then swept down- 
ward to the slaughter, — so did Spain watch and wait 
to trample and crush the hope of humanity. 

In these days of fear, a second Huguenot colony 
sailed for the New World. The calm, stern man 



34 JEAN KIBAUT. [1562. 

who represented and led the Protestantism of France 
felt to his inmost heart the peril of the time. He 
wonld fain build up a city of refuge for the perse- 
cuted sect. Yet Gaspar de Coligny, too high in 
power and rank to be openly assailed, was forced to 
act with caution. He must act, too, in the name of 
the Crown, and in virtue of his office of Admiral 
of France. A nobleman and a soldier, — for the 
Admiral of France was no seaman, — he shared the 
ideas and habits of his class; nor is there reason to 
believe him to have been in advance of his time in a 
knowledge of the principles of successful coloniza- 
tion. His scheme promised a military colony, not 
a free commonwealth. The Huguenot party was 
already a political as well as a religious party. At 
its foundation lay the religious element, represented 
by Geneva, the martyrs, and the devoted fugitives 
who sang the psalms of Marot among rocks and 
caverns. Joined to these were numbers on whom 
the faith sat lightly, whose hope was in commotion 
and change. Of the latter, in great part, was the 
Huguenot oioUesse, from Cond^, who aspired to the 
crown, 

" Ce petit homme tant joli, 
Qui toujours chante, toujours rit/* 

to the younger son of the impoverished seigneur 
whose patrimony was his sword. More than this, 
the restless, the factious, and the discontented, began 
to link their fortunes to a party whose triumph would 
involve confiscation of the wealth of the only rich 



1562.] SAILS FOR FLORIDA. 35 

class in France. An element of the great revolution 
was already mingling in the strife of religions. 

America was still a land of wonder. The ancient 
spell still hung unbroken over the mid, vast world 
of mj'stery beyond the sea, — a land of romance, 
adventure, and gold. 

Fifty-eight years later the Puritans landed on the 
sands of Massachusetts Bay. The illusion was gone, 
— the ignis fahcus of adventure, the dream of wealth. 
The rugged wilderness offered only a stern and hard- 
won independence. In their own hearts, and not in 
the promptings of a great leader or the patronage of 
an equivocal government, their enterprise found its 
birth and its achievement. They were of the boldest 
and most earnest of their sect. There were such 
among the French disciples of Calvin; but no May- 
flower ever sailed from a port of France. Coligny's 
colonists were of a different stamp, and widely 
different was their fate. 

An excellent seaman and stanch Protestant, Jean 
Ribaut of Dieppe, commanded the expedition. Under 
him, besides sailors, were a band of veteran soldiers, 
and a few young nobles. Embarked in two of those 
antiquated craft whoso high poops and tub-like por- 
portions are preserved in the old engravings of De 
Bry, they sailed from Ha^rre on the eighteenth of 
February, 1562.^ They crossed the Atlantic, and on 
the thirtieth of April, in the latitude of twenty-nine 
and a half degrees, saw the long, low line where the 

1 Pelaborde, Gaspard de Coligny, II. 14^ 440, 



36 JEAN RIBAUT. [1562. 

wilderness of waves met the wilderness of woods. It 
was the coast of Florida. They soon descried a jut- 
ting point, which they called French Cape, perhaps 
one of the headlands of Matanzas Inlet. They 
turned their prows northward, coasting the fringes 
of that waste of verdure which rolled in shadowy 
undulation far to the unknown West. 

On the next morning, the first of May, they found 
themselves off the mouth of a great river. Riding 
at anchor on a sunny sea, they lowered their boats, 
crossed the bar that obstructed the entrance, and 
floated on a basin of deep and sheltered water, " boyl- 
ing and roaring," says Ribaut, "through the multi- 
tude of all kind of fish." Indians were running 
along the beach, and out upon the sand-bars, beckon- 
ing them to land. They pushed their boats ashore 
and disembarked, — sailors, soldiers, and eager young 
nobles. Corselet and morion, arquebuse and halberd, 
flashed in the sun that flickered through innumerable 
leaves, as, kneeling on the ground, they gave thanks 
to God, who had guided their voyage to an issue full 
of promise. The Indians, seated gravely under the 
neighboring trees, looked on in silent respect, think- 
ing that they worshipped the sun. "They be all 
naked and of a goodly stature, mightie, and as w^ell 
shapen and proportioned of body as any people in y® 
world; and the fore part of their body and amies be 
painted with pretie deuised workes, of Azure, red, 
and blacke, so well and so properly as the best 
Painter of Europe could not amende it." With their 



1562.] THE RIVER OF MAY. 37 

squaws and children, they presently drew near, and, 
strewing the earth with laurel boughs, sat down 
among the Frenchmen. Their visitors were much 
pleased with them, and Ribaut gave the chief, whom 
he calls the king, a robe of blue cloth, worked in 
yellow with the regal fleur-de-lis. 

But Ribaut and Ms followers, just escaped from 
the dull prison of their ships, were intent on admir- 
ing the wild scenes around them. Never had they 
known a fairer May-day. The quaint old narrative 
is exuberant with delight. The tranquil air, the 
warm sun, woods fresh with young verdure, meadows 
bright with flowers ; the palm, the cypress, the pine, 
the magnolia; the grazing deer; herons, curlews, 
bitterns, woodcock, and unknown water-fowl that 
waded in the ripple of the beach; cedars bearded 
from crown to root with long, gray moss; huge 
oaks smothering in the folds of enormous grape- 
vines ; — such were the objects that greeted them in 
their roamings, till their new-discovered land seemed 
"the fairest, fruitfuUest, and pleasantest of al the 
world." 

They found a tree covered with caterpillars, and 
hereupon the ancient black-letter says: "Also there 
be Silke wormes in meruielous number, a great deale 
fairer and better then be our silk wormes. To bee 
short, it is a thing vnspeakable to consider the thinges 
that bee seene there, and shalbe founde more and 
more in this incomperable lande."^ 

1 The True and Last Discoverie of Florida, made by Captain John 
Ribault, in the Yeere 1562, dedicated to a great Nobleman in Fraunce^ 



i5» JEAN RIBAUT. [1562. 

Above all, it was plain to their excited fancy that 
the country was rich in gold and silver, turquoises 
and pearls. One of these last, "as great as an 
Acorne at y® least," hung from the neck of an Indian 
who stood near their boats as they re-embarked. 
They gathered, too, from the signs of their savage 
visitors, that the wonderful land of Cibola, with its 
seven cities and its untold riches, was distant but 
twenty days' journey by water. In truth, it was two 
thousand miles westward, and its wealth a fable. 

They named the river the River of May. It is 
now the St. John's. "And on the next morning," 
says Ribault, "we returned to land againe, accom- 
panied with the Captaines, Gentlemen, and Souldiers^ 
and others of our small troope, carrying with us a 
Pillour or columne of harde stone, our king's amies 
graved therein, to plant and set the same in the 
enterie of the Porte; and being come thither we 
espied on the south syde of the Riuer a place very 
fitte for that purpose upon a little hill compassed 
with Cypres, Bayes, Paulmes, and other trees, with 
sweete smelling and pleasant shrubbes." Here they 
set the column, and then, again embarking, held 
their course northward, happy in that benign decree 

and translated into Englishe by one Thomas Hachit. This is Ribaut's 
journal, which seems not to exist in the original. The translation is 
contained in the rare black-letter tract of Hakliiyt called Divers 
Voyages (London, 1582), a copy of which is in the library of Harvard 
College. It has been reprinted by the Hakluyt Society. The journal 
first appeared in 1563, under the title of The Whole and True Dis- 
coverie of Terra Florida {Englished The Florishing Land). This edition 
is of extreme rarity. 



1562.] PORT ROYAL. 89 

which locks from mortal eyes the secrets of the 
future. 

Next they anchored near Fernandina, and to a 
neighboring river, probably the St. Mary's, gave the 
name of the Seine. Here, as morning broke on the 
fresh, moist meadows hung with mists, and on broad 
reaches of inland waters which seemed like lakes, 
they were tempted to land again, and soon " espied 
an innumerable number of footesteps of great Hartes 
and Hindes of a wonderfuU greatnesse, the steppes 
being all fresh and new, an-d it seemeth that the 
people doe nourish them like tame Cattell." By two 
or three weeks of exploration they seem to have 
gained a clear idea of this rich semi-aquatic region. 
Ribaut describes it as "a countrie full of hauens, 
riuers, and Hands, of such fruitfulnes as cannot with 
tongue be expressed." Slowly moving northward, 
they named each river, or inlet supposed to be a 
river, after some stream of France, — the Loire, the 
Charente, the Garonne, the Gironde. At length, 
opening betwixt flat and sandy shores, they saw a 
commodious haven, and named it Port Royal. 

On the twenty-seventh of May they crossed the 
bar where the war-ships of Dupont crossed three 
hundi^ed years later, passed Hilton Head, and held 
their course along the peaceful bosom of Broad 
River.* On the left they saw a stream which they 

1 Ribaut thinks that the Broad River of Port Royal is the Jordan 
of the Spanish navigator Vasquez de Ay lion, who was here in 1520, 
and gave the name of St, Helena to a neighboring cape (Garcilaso, 
Florida del Tnca). The adjacent district, now called St. Helena, is the 
Chicora of the old Spanish maps. 



40 JEAN RIBAUT. [1562. 

named Libourne, probably Skull Creek ; on the right, 
a wide river, probably the Beaufort. When they 
landed, all was solitude. The frightened Indians 
had fled, but they lured them back with knives, 
beads, and looking-glasses, and enticed two of them 
on board their ships. Here, by feeding, clothing, 
and caressing them, they tried to wean them from 
their fears, thinking to carry them to France, in 
obedience to a command of Catherine de Medicis ; ^ 
but the captive warriors moaned and lamented day 
and night, and at length made their escape. 

Ranging the woods, they found them full of game, 
wild turkeys and partridges, bears and lynxes. Two 
deer, of unusual size, leaped from the underbrush. 
Cross-bow and arquebuse were brought to the level ; 
but the Huguenot captain, " moved with the singular 
fairness and bigness of them," forbade his men to 
shoot. 

Preliminary exploration, not immediate settlement, 
had been the object of the voyage ; but all was still 
rose-color in the eyes of the voyagers, and many of 
their number would gladly linger in the New Canaan. 
Ribaut was more than willing to humor them. He 
mustered his company on deck, and made them a 
harangue. He appealed to their courage and their 
patriotism, told them how, from a mean origin, men 
rise by enterprise and daring to fame and fortune, 
and demanded who among them would stay behind 
and hold Port Royal for the King. The greater part 

1 Laudonniere in Basauier, 14. 



1562.] CHARLESFORT. 41 

came forward, and " with such a good will and joly 
corage," writes the commander, "as we had much 
to do to stay their importunitie." Thirty were 
chosen, and Albert de Pierria was named to command 
them. 

A fort was begun on a small stream called the 
Chenonceau, probably Archer's Creek, about six 
miles from the site of Beaufort.^ They named it 
Charlesfort, in honor of the unhappy son of Catherine 
de Medicis, Charles the Ninth, the future hero of St. 
Bartholomew. Ammunition and stores were sent on 
shore, and on the eleventh of June, with his dimin- 
ished company, Ribaut again embarked and spread 
his sails for France. 

From the beach at Hilton Head, Albert and his 
companions might watch the receding ships, growing 
less and less on the vast expanse of blue, dwindling 
to faint specks, then vanishing on the pale verge of 
the waters. They were alone in those fearful soli- 
tudes. From the north pole to Mexico there was no 
Christian denizen but they. 

The pressing question was how they were to sub- 
sist. Their thought was not of subsistence, but of 
gold. Of the thirty, the greater number were 
soldiers and sailors, with a few gentlemen ; that is to 
say, men of the sword, born within the pale of nobil- 
ity, who at home could neither labor nor trade with- 
out derogation from their rank. For a time they 

1 No trace of this fort has been found. The old fort of which the 
remains may be seen a little below Beaufort is of later date. 



42 JEAN RIBAUT. [1582. 

busied themselves with finishing their fort, and, this 
done, set forth in quest of adventures. 

The Indians had lost fear of them. Ribaut had 
enjoined upon them to use all kindness and gentle- 
ness in their dealing with the men of the woods ; and 
they more than obeyed him. They were soon hand . 
and glove with cliiefs, warriors, and squaws ; and as 
with Indians the adage that familiarity breeds con- 
tempt holds with peculiar force, they quickly divested 
themselves of the prestige which had attached at 
the outset to their supposed character of children of 
the Sun. Good-will, however, remained, and this 
the colonists abused to the utmost. 

Roaming by river, swamp, and forest, they visited 
in turn the villages of five petty chiefs, whom they 
called kings, feasting everywhere on hominy, beans, 
and game, and loaded with gifts. One of these 
chiefs, named Audusta, invited them to the grand 
religious festival of his tribe. When they arrived, 
they found the village alive with preparation, and 
troops of women busied in sweeping the great circular 
area where the ceremonies were to take place. But 
as the noisy and impertinent guests showed a dispo- 
sition to undue merriment, the chief shut them all in 
his wigwam, lest their Gentile eyes should profane 
the mysteries. Here, immured in darkness, they 
listened to the howls, yelpings, and lugubrious songs 
that resounded from without. One of them, how- 
ever, by some artifice, contrived to escape, hid behind 
a bush, and saw the whole solemnity, — the proces- 



1562.] INDIAN KINGS. 43 

sion of the medicine-men and the bedaubed and 
befeathered warriors; the drumming, dancing, and 
stamping ; the wiki himentation of the women as they 
gashed the arms of the young girls with sharp mussel- 
shells, and flung the blood into the air with dismal 
outcries. A scene of ravenous feasting followed, in 
which the French, released from durance, were 
summoned to share. 

After the carousal they returned to Charlesfort, 
where they were soon pinched with hunger. The In- 
dians, never niggardly of food, brought them supplies 
as long as their own lasted ; but the harvest was not yet 
ripe, and their means did not match their good-will. 
They told the French of two other kings, Ouadd and 
Couexis, who dwelt towards the south, and were rich 
beyond belief in maize, beans, and squashes. The 
mendicant colonists embarked without delay, and, 
with an Indian guide, steered for the wigwams of 
these potentates, not by the open sea, but by a per- 
plexing inland navigation, including, as it seems, 
Calibogue Sound and neighboring waters. Reaching 
the friendly villages, on or near the Savannah, they 
were feasted to repletion, and their boat was laden 
with vegetables and corn. They returned rejoicing; 
but their joy was short. Their store-house at 
Charlesfort, taking fire in the night, burned to the 
ground, and with it their newly acquired stock. 
Once more they set out for the realms of King Ouad^, 
and once more returned laden with supplies. Nay, 
the generous savage assured them that, so long as his 



44 JEAN RIBAUT. [1562. 

cornfields yielded tlieir harvests, his friends should 
not want. 

How long this friendship would have lasted may 
well be doubted. With the perception that the 
dependants on their bounty were no demigods, but a 
crew of idle and helpless beggars, respect would soon 
have changed to contempt, and contempt to ill-will. 
But it was not to Indian war-clubs that the infant 
colony was to owe its ruin. It carried within itself 
its own destruction. The ill-assorted band of lands- 
men and sailors, surrounded by that influence of the 
wilderness which wakens the dormant savage in the 
breasts of men, soon fell into quarrels. Albert, a 
rude soldier, with a thousand leagues of ocean betwixt 
him and responsibility, grew harsh, domineering, and 
violent beyond endurance. None could question or 
oppose him without peril of death. He hanged with 
his own hands a drummer who had fallen under his 
displeasure, and banished a soldier, named La Chere, 
to a solitary island, three leagues from the fort, 
where he left him to starve. For a time his com- 
rades chafed in smothered fury. The crisis came at 
length. A few of the fiercer spirits leagued together, 
assailed their tyrant, murdered him, delivered the 
famished soldier, and called to the command one 
Nicolas Barrd, a man of merit. Barr^ took the com- 
mand, and thenceforth there was peace. 

Peace, such as it was, with famine, homesickness, 
and disgust. The rough ramparts and rude build- 
ings of Charlesfort, hatefully familiar to their weary 



1563.] A VESSEL BUILT. 45 

eyes, tlie sweltering forest, the glassy river, the 
eternal silence of the lifeless wilds around them, 
oppressed the senses and the spirits. They dreamed 
of ease, of home, of pleasures across the sea, of the 
evening cup on the bench before the cabaret, and 
dances with kind wenches of Dieppe. But how to 
escape ? A continent was their solitary prison, and 
the pitiless Atlantic shut them in. Not one of them 
knew how to build a ship ; but Eibaut had left them 
a forge, with tools and iron, and strong desire sup- 
plied the place of skill. Trees were hewn down and 
the work begun. Had they put forth to maintain 
themselves at Port Royal the energy and resource 
which they exerted to escape from it, they might 
have laid the corner-stone of a solid colony. 

All, gentle and simple, labored with equal zeal. 
They calked the seams with the long moss which 
hung in profusion from the neighboring trees; the 
pines supplied them with pitch; the Indians made 
for them a kind of cordage ; and for sails they sewed 
together their shirts and bedding. At length a brig- 
antine worthy of Robinson Crusoe floated on the 
waters of the Chenonceau. They laid in what pro- 
vision they could, gave all that remained of their 
goods to the Indians, embarked, descended the river, 
and put to sea. A fair wind filled their patchwork 
sails and bore them from the hated coast. Day after 
day they held their course, till at length the breeze 
died away and a breathless calm fell on the waters. 
Florida was far behind; France farther yet before. 



46 JEAN RIBAUT. [156a 

Floating idly on the glassy waste, the craft lay 
motionless. Their supplies gave out. Twelve ker- 
nels of maize a day were each man's portion; then 
the maize failed, and they ate their shoes and leather 
jerkins. The water-barrels were drained, and they 
tried to slake their thirst with brine. Several died, 
and the rest, giddy with exhaustion and crazed with 
thirst, were forced to ceaseless labor, bailing out the 
water that gushed through every seam. Head-winds 
set in, increasing to a gale, and the wretched brigan- 
tine, with sails close-reefed, tossed among the savage 
billows at the mercy of the storm. A heavy sea 
rolled down upon her, and burst the bulwarks on the 
windward side. The surges broke over her, and, 
clinging with desperate gripe to spars and cordage, 
the drenched voyagers gave up all for lost. At 
length she righted. The gale subsided, the wind 
changed, and the crazy, water-logged vessel again 
bore slowly towards France. 

Gnawed with famine, they counted the leagues of 
barren ocean that still stretched before, and gazed on 
each other with haggard wolfish eyes, till a whisper 
passed from man to man that one, by his death, 
might ransom all the rest. The lot was cast, and 
it fell on La Chere, the same wretched man whom 
Albert had doomed to starvation on a lonely island. 
They killed him, and with ravenous avidity portioned 
out his flesh. The hideous repast sustained them till 
the land rose in sight, when, it is said, in a delirium 
of joy, they could no longer steer their vessel, but let 



1563.] FLORIDA ABANDONED. 47 

her drift at the mil of the tide. A small English 
bark bore down upon them, took them all on board, 
and, after landing the feeblest, carried the rest 
prisoners to Queen Elizabeth. ^ 

Thus closed another of those scenes of woe whose 
lurid clouds are thickly piled around the stormy dawn 
of American history. It was the opening act of a 
wdld and tragic drama. 

1 For all the latter part of the chapter, the authority is the first of 
the three long letters of Rene de Laudonniere, companion of Ribaut 
and his successor in command. They are contained in the Histoire 
Notable de la Floride, compiled by Basanier (Paris, 1586), and are 
also to be found, quaintly " done into English," in the third volume of 
Hakluyt's great collection. In the main, they are entitled to much 
coufideuce. 



CHAPTER IV. 

1564. 

LAUDONNIERE. 

The New Colony. — Satouriona. — The Promised Land. — 
Miraculous Longevity. — Fort Caroline. — Native Tribes. 
— Ottigny explores the St. John's. — The Thimagoas. — 
Conflicting Alliances. — Indian War. — Diplomacy oe 
Laudonni^ire. — Vasseur's Expedition. 

On tlie twenty-fiftli of June, 1564, a French squad- 
ron anchored a second time off the mouth of the River 
of May. There were three vessels, the smallest of 
sixty tons, the largest of one hundred and twenty, 
all crowded with men. Rene de Laudonnifere held 
command. He was of a noble race of Poitou, attached 
to the house of Chatillon, of which Coligny was the 
head; pious, we are told, and an excellent marine 
officer. An engraving, purporting to be his likeness, 
shows us a slender figure, leaning against the mast, 
booted to the thigh, with slouched hat and plume, 
slashed doublet, and short cloak. His thin oval face, 
with curled moustache and close-trimmed beard, 
wears a somewhat pensive look, as if already shadowed 
by the destiny that awaited him.^ 

The intervening year since Ribaut's voyage had 
been a dark year for France. From the peaceful 

1 See Guerin, Navigateurs Frangais, 180. The authenticitj of the 
portrait is doubtful. 



1 

ll 

!! 1564.] THE NEW COLONY. 49 

|i solitude of the River of May, that voyager returned 

to a land reeking with slaughter. But the carnival 

I of bigotry and hate had found a pause. The Peace 

I of Amboise had been signed. The fierce monk 

i choked down his venom; the soldier sheathed his 

sword, the assassin his dagger; rival chiefs grasped 

hands, and masked their rancor under hollow smiles. 

The king and the queen-mother, helpless amid the 

storm of factions which threatened their destruction, 

smiled now on Cond^, now on Guise, — gave ear 

to the Cardinal of Lorraine, or listened in secret to 

the emissaries of Theodore Beza. Coligny was again 

strong at Court. He used his opportunity, and 

solicited with success the means of renewing his 

enterprise of colonization.^ 

Men were mustered for the work. In name, at 
least, they were all Huguenots ; yet now, as before, 
the staple of the projected colony was unsound, — 
soldiers, paid out of the royal treasury, hired artisans 
and tradesmen, with a sv.^arm of volunteers from the 
young Huguenot nobles, whose restless swords had 
rusted in their scabbards since the peace. The foun- 
dation-stone was forgotten. There were no tillers of 
the soil. Such, indeed, were rare among the Hugue- 
nots; for the dull peasants who guided the plough 
clung with blind tenacity to the ancient faith. 
Adventurous gentlemen, reckless soldiers, discon- 
tented tradesmen, all keen for novelty and heated 
with dreams of wealth, — these were they who would 

1 Delaborde, Gaspard de Coligny, II. 443. 



50 LAUDONOTERE. [1564. 

build for their country and their religion an empire 
beyond the sea. ^ 

On Thursday, the twenty-second of June, Laudon- 
niere saw the low coast-line of Florida, and entered 
the harbor of St. Augustine, which he named the 
River of Dolphins, "because that at mine arrival I 
saw there a great number of Dolphins which were 
playing in the mouth thereof. " ^ Then he bore north- 
ward, following the coast till, on the twenty-fifth, he 
reached the mouth of the St. John's or River of May. 
The vessels anchored, the boats were lowered, and 
he landed with his principal followers on the south 
shore, near the present village of Mayport. It was 
the very spot where he had landed with Ribaut two 
years before. They were scarcely on shore when 
they saw an Indian chief, " which having espied us 
cryed very far off, AntiiJola ! Anti^pola ! and being so 
joyful that he could not containe himselfe, he came 
to meet us accompanied with two of his sonnes, as 

^ The principal authorities for this part of the narrative are Laudon- 
niere and his artist, Le Moyne. Laudonniere's letters were published 
in 1586, under the title UHistoire Notable de la Floride, mise en lumiere 
par M. Basanier. See also Hakluyt's Voyages, 111. {\%\2). Le Moyne 
was employed to make maps and drawings of the country. His maps 
are curiously inexact. His drawings are spirited, and, with many 
allowances, give useful hints concerning the habits of the natives. 
They are engraved in the Grands Voyages of De Bry, Part II. (Frank- 
fort, 1591). To each is ajjpended a " declaratio," or explanatory 
remarks. The same work contains the artist's personal narrative, the 
Brevis Narratio. In the Recueil de Pieces sur la Floride of Ternaux- 
Compans is a letter from one of the adventurers. 

2 Second letter of Laudonniere ; contemporary translation in Hak- 
luyt, UI. 



1564.] SATOURTONA. 61 

faire and miglitie persons as might be found in al the 
world. There was in their trayne a great number of 
men and women which stil made very much of us, 
and by signes made us understand how glad they 
Avere of our arrivall. This good entertainment past, 
the Paracoussy [chief] prayed me to goe see the pillar 
which we had erected in the voyage of John Ribault." 
The Indians, regarding it with mysterious awe, had 
crowned it mth evergreens, and placed baskets full 
of maize before it as an offering. 

The chief then took Laudonni^re by the hand, 
telling him that he was named Satouriona, and pointed 
out the extent of his dominions, far up the river and 
along the adjacent coasts. One of his sons, a man 
" perfect in beautie, wisedome, and honest sobrietie," 
then gave the French commander a wedge of silver, 
and received some trifles in return, after which the 
voyagers went back to their ships. "I prayse God 
continually," says Laudonniere, "for the great love I 
have found in these savages." 

In the morning the French landed again, and 
found their new friends on the same spot, to the 
number of eighty or more, seated under a shelter of 
boughs, in festal attire of smoke-tanned deer-skins, 
painted in many colors. The party then rowed up 
the river, the Indians following them along the shore. 
As they advanced, coasting the borders of a great 
marsh that lay upon their left, the St. John's spread 
before them in vast sheets of glistening water, almost 
level with its flat, sedgy shores, the haunt of alii- 



62 LAUDONNIERE. [1564. 

gators, and the resort of innumerable birds. Beyond 
the marsh, some five miles from the mouth of the 
river, they saw a ridge of high ground abutting on 
the water, which, flowing beneath in a deep, strong 
current, had undermined it, and left a steep front of 
yellowish sand. This was the hill now called St. 
John's Bluff. Here they landed and entered the 
woods, where Laudonni^re stopped to rest while his 
lieutenant, Ottigny, with a sergeant and a few 
soldiers, went to explore the country. 

They pushed their way through the thickets till 
they were stopped by a marsh choked with reeds, at 
the edge of which, under a great laurel-tree, they had 
seated themselves to rest, overcome with the summer 
heat, when five Indians suddenly appeared, peering 
timidly at them from among the bushes. Some of 
the men went towards them with signs of friendship, 
on which, taking heart, they drew near, and one of 
them, who was evidently a chief, made a long speech, 
inviting the strangers to their dwellings. The way 
was across the marsh, through which they carried the 
lieutenant and two or three of the soldiers on their 
backs, while the rest circled by a narrow path through 
the woods. When they reached the lodges, a crowd 
of Indians came out "to receive our men gallantly, 
and feast them after their manner." One of them 
brought a large earthen vessel full of spring water, 
which was served out to each in turn in a wooden 
cup. But what most astonished the French was a 
venerable chief, who assured them that he was the 



1564.] THE PROMISED LAND. 63 

father of five successive generations, and that he had 
lived two hundred and fifty years. Opposite sat a 
still more ancient veteran, the father of the fii'st, 
shrunken to a mere anatomy, and "seeming to be 
rather a dead carkeis than a living body." "Also," 
pursues the history, "his age was so great that the 
good man had lost his sight, and could not speak one 
onely word but with exceeding great paine."^ In 
spite of his dismal condition, the visitors were told 
that he might expect to live, in the course of nature, 
thirty or forty years more. As the two patriarchs 
sat face to face, half hidden with their streaming 
white hair, Ottigny and his credulous soldiers looked 
from one to the other, lost in speechless admiration. 

One of these veterans made a parting present to 
his guests of two young eagles, and Ottigny and his 
followers returned to report what they had seen. 
Laudonnifere was waiting for them on the side of the 
hill; and now, he says, "I went right to the toppe 
thereof, where we found nothing else but Cedars, 
Palme, and Baytrees of so sovereigne odour that 
Baulme smelleth nothing like in comparison." From 
this high standpoint they surveyed their Canaan. The 
unruffled river lay before them, with its marshy 
islands overgrown with sedge and bulrushes; while 
on the farther side the flat, green meadows spread 
mile on mile, veined with countless creeks and belts 
of torpid water, and bounded leagues away by the 

1 Laudonniere in Hakluj^t, III. 388 ; Basanier, fol. 40 ; Coppie d'une 
Lettre venant de la Floride in Ternaux-Compans, Floride, 233. 



54 LAUDONNI^RE. [1564. 

verge of the dim pine forest. On the right, the sea 
glistened along the horizon; and on the left, the St. 
John's stretched westward between verdant shores, a 
highway to their fancied Eldorado. " Briefly, " writes 
Laudonni^re, "the place is so pleasant that those 
which are melancholicke would be inforced to change 
their humour." 

On their way back to the ships they stopped for 
another parley with the chief Satouriona, and Lau- 
donniere eagerly asked where he had got the wedge 
of silver that he gave him in the morning. The chief 
told him by signs, that he had taken it in war from a 
people called Thimagoas, who lived higher up the 
tiver, and who were his mortal enemies; on which 
the French captain had the folly to promise that he 
would join in an expedition against them. Satouriona 
was delighted, and declared that, if he kept his word, 
he should have gold and silver to his heart's content. 

Man and nature alike seemed to mark the borders 
of the River of May as the site of the new colony; 
for here, around the Indian towns, the harvests of 
maize, beans, and pumpkins promised abundant food, 
while the river opened a ready way to the mines of 
gold and silver and the stores of barbaric wealth which 
glittered before the dreaming vision of the colonists. 
Yet, the better to satisfy himself and his men, Lau- 
donni^re weighed anchor, and sailed for a time along 
the neighboring coasts. Returning, confirmed in his 
first impression, he set out with a party of officers 
and soldiers to explore the borders of the chosen 



1564.] A FORT BUILT. 55 

stream. The day was hot. The sun beat fiercely on 
the woollen caps and heavy doublets of the men, till 
at length they gained the shade of one of those deep 
forests of pine where the dead, hot air is thick with 
resinous odors, and the earth, carpeted with fallen 
leaves, gives no sound beneath the foot. Yet, in the 
stillness, deer leaped up on all sides as they moved 
along. Then they emerged into sunlight. A meadow 
was before them, a running brook, and a wall of 
encircling forests. The men called it the Vale of 
Laudonni^re. The afternoon was spent, and the sun 
was near its setting, when they reached the bank of 
the river. They strewed the ground with boughs 
and leaves, and, stretched on that sylvan couch, slept 
the sleep of travel-worn and weary men. 

They were roused at daybreak by sound of trumpet, 
and after singing a psalm they set themselves to their 
task. It was the building of a fort, and the spot 
they chose was a furlong or more above St. John's 
Bluff, where close to the water was a wide, flat knoll, 
raised a few feet above the marsh and the river. ^ 
Boats came up the stream with laborers, tents, pro- 
visions, cannon, and tools. The engineers marked 
out the work in the form of a triangle ; and, from the 
noble volunteer to the meanest artisan, all lent a 

1 Aboye St. John's Bluff the shore curves in a semicircle, along 
which the water runs in a deep, strong current, which has half cut 
away the flat knoll above mentioned, and encroached greatly on the 
bluff itself. The formation of the ground, joined to the indications 
furnished by Laudonniere and Le Moyne, leave little doubt that the 
fort was built on the knoll. 



56 LAUDONNIERE. [1564. 

hand to complete it. On the river side the defences 
were a palisade of timber. On the two other sides 
were a ditch, and a rampart of fascines, earth, and 
sods. At each angle was a bastion, in one of which 
was the magazine. Within was a spacious parade, 
around it were various buildings for lodging and 
storage, and a large house with covered galleries was 
built on the side towards the river for Laudonni^re 
and his officers. In honor of Charles the Ninth the 
fort was named Fort Caroline. 

Meanwhile Satouriona, "lord of all that country," 
as the narratives style him, was seized with misgiv- 
ings on learning these proceedings. The work was 
scarcely begun, and all was din and confusion around 
the incipient fort, when the startled Frenchmen saw 
the neighboring height of St. John's swarming with 
naked warriors. Laudonniere set his men in array, 
and for a season, pick and spade were dropped for 
arquebuse and pike. The savage chief descended to 
the camp. The artist Le Mojm.e, who saw him, drew 
his likeness from memory, — a tail, athletic figure, 
tattooed in token of his rank, plumed, bedecked with 
strings of beads, and girdled with tinkling pieces of 
metal which hung from the belt which formed his 
only garment.^ He came in regal state, a crowd of 
warriors around him, and, in advance, a troop of 
young Indians armed with spears. Twenty musicians 
followed, blowing hideous discord through pipes of 
reeds,- while he seated himself on the ground "like 

1 Le Moyne, Tabulae VIII., XL 

2 Le Moyne, Brevis Narratio. . 



1564.] NATIVE TRIBES. 57 

a monkey, " as Le Moyne has it in the grave Latin of 
his Brevis Narratio. A council followed, in which 
broken words were aided by signs and pantomime; 
and a treaty of alliance was made, Laudonniere renew- 
ing his rash promise to aid the chief against his 
enemies. Satouriona, well pleased, ordered his 
Indians to help the French in their work. They 
obeyed with alacrity, and in two days the buildings 
of the fort were all thatched, after the native fashion, 
with leaves of the palmetto. 

These savages belonged to one of the confederacies 
into which the native tribes of Florida were divided, 
and with three of wliich the French came into con- 
tact. The first was that of Satouriona; and the 
second was that of the people called Thimagoas, who, 
under a chief named Outina, dwelt in forty villages 
high up the St. John's. The third was that of the 
chief, cacique, or paracoussy whom the French called 
King Potanou, and whose dominions lay among the 
pine barrens, cypress swamps, and fertile hummocks 
westward and northwestward of this remarkable river. 
These three confederacies hated each other, and were 
constantly at war. Their social state was more 
advanced than that of the wandering hunter tribes. 
They were an agricultural people, and around all 
their villages were fields of maize, beans, and pump- 
kins. The harvest was gathered into a public granary, 
and they lived on it during three fourths of the year, 
dispersing in winter to hunt among the forests. 

They were exceedingly well formed ; the men, or 



68 LAUDONNIlBiRE. [1564. 

the principal among them, were tattooed on the limbs 
and body, and in summer were nearly naked. Some 
wore their straight black hair flowing loose to the 
waist; others gathered it in a knot at the crown of 
the head. They danced and sang about the scalps of 
their enemies, like the tribes of the North; and like 
them they had their "medicine-men," who combined 
the functions of physicians, sorcerers, and priests. 
The most prominent feature of their religion was sun- 
worship. 

Their villages were clusters of large dome-shaped 
huts, framed with poles and thatched with palmetto 
leaves. In the midst was the dwelling of the chief, 
much larger than the rest, and sometimes raised on 
an artificial mound. They were enclosed with pali- 
sades, and, strange to say, some of them were 
approached by wide avenues, artificially graded, and 
several hundred yards in length. Traces of these 
may still be seen, as may also the mounds in which 
the Floridians, like the Hurons and various other 
tribes, collected at stated intervals the bones of their 
dead. 

Social distinctions were sharply defined among 
them. Their chiefs, whose office was hereditary, 
sometimes exercised a power almost absolute. Each 
village had its chief, subordinate to the grand cliief 
of the confederacy. In the language of the French 
narratives, they were all kings or lords, vassals of the 
great monarch Satouriona, Outina, or Potanou. All 
these tribes are now extinct, and it is difficult to 



1564.] VOYAGE OF OTTIGNY. 59 

ascertain with precision tlieir tribal affinities. There 
can be no doubt that they were the authors of the 
aboriginal remains at present found in various parts 
of Florida. 

Having nearly finished the fort, Laudonni^re de- 
clares that he " would not lose the minute of an houre 
without employing of the same in some vertuous exer- 
cise;" and he therefore sent his lieutenant, Ottigny, 
to spy out the secrets of the interior, and to learn, 
above all, "what this Thimagoa might be, whereof 
the Paracoussy Satouriona had spoken to us so 
often." As Laudonni^re stood pledged to attack the 
Thimagoas, the chief gave Ottigny two Indian guides, 
who, says the record, were so eager for the fray that 
they seemed as if bound to a wedding feast. 

The lazy waters of the St. John's, tinged to coffee- 
color by the exudations of the swamps, curled before 
the prow of Ottigny 's sail-boat as he advanced into 
the prolific wilderness which no European eye had 
ever yet beheld. By his own reckoning, he sailed 
thirty leagues up the river, which would have 
brought him to a point not far below Palatka. Here, 
more than two centuries later, the Bartrams, father 
and son, guided their skiff and kindled their nightly 
bivouac-fire; and here, too, roamed Audubon, with 
his sketch-book and his gun. It was a paradise for 
the hunter and the naturalist. Earth, air, and water 
teemed with life, in endless varieties of beauty and 
ugliness. A half -tropical forest shadowed the low 
shores, where the palmetto and the cabbage palm 



60 LAUDONNi:fcRE. [1564. 

mingled with the oak, the maple, the cypress, the 
liquid-ambar, the laurel, the myrtle, and the broad 
glistening leaves of the evergreen magnolia. Here 
was the haunt of bears, wild-cats, lynxes, cougars, 
and the numberless deer of which they made their 
prey. In the sedges and the mud the alligator 
stretched his brutish length ; turtles with outstretched 
necks basked on half-sunken logs; the rattlesnake 
sunned himself on the sandy bank, and the yet more 
dangerous moccason lurked under the water-lilies in 
inlets and sheltered coves. The air and the water 
were populous as the earth. The river swarmed 
with fish, from the fierce and restless gar, cased in 
his horny armor, to the lazy cat-fish in the muddy 
depths. There were the golden eagle and the white- 
headed eagle, the gray pelican and the white pelican, 
the blue heron and the white heron, the egret, the 
ibis, ducks of various sorts, the whooping crane, the 
black vulture, and the cormorant ; and when at sun- 
set the voyagers drew their boat upon the strand 
and built their camp-fire under the arches of the 
woods, the owls whooped around them all night 
long, and when morning came the sultry mists that 
wrapped the river were vocal with the clamor of 
wild turkeys. 

When Ottigny was about twenty leagues from Fort 
Caroline, his two Indian guides, who were always on 
the watch, descried three canoes, and in great excite- 
ment cried, "Thimagoa! Thimagoa! " As they drew 
near, one of them snatched up a halberd and the 



1564.] VOYAGE OF OTTIGNY. 61 

other a sword, and in their fury they seemed ready 
to jump into the water to get at the enemy. To 
their great disgust, Ottigny permitted the Thimagoas 
to run their canoes ashore and escape to the woods. 
Far from keeping Laudonni^re's senseless promise to 
fight them, he wished to make them friends; to 
which end he now landed with some of his men, 
placed a few trinkets in their canoes, and withdrew 
to a distance to watch the result. The fugitives 
presently returned, step by step, and allowed the 
French to approach them ; on which Ottigny asked, 
by signs, if they had gold or silver. They replied 
that they had none, but that if he would give them 
one of his men they would show him where it was to 
be found. One of the soldiers boldly offered himself 
for the venture, and embarked with them. As, 
however, he failed to return according to agreement, 
Ottigny, on the next day, followed ten leagues farther 
up the stream, and at length had the good luck to 
see him approaching in a canoe. He brought little 
or no gold, but reported that he had heard of a cer- 
tain chief, named Mayrra, marvellously rich, who 
lived three days' journey up the river ; and with 
these welcome tidings Ottigny went back to Fort 
Caroline. 

A fortnight later, an officer named Yasseur went 
up the river to pursue the adventure. The fever for 
gold had seized upon the French. As the villages of 
the Thimagoas lay between them and the imagined 
treasures, they shrank from a quarrel, and Laudon- 



62 LAUDONNE&RE. [1564. 

ni^re repented already of his promised alliance with 
Satouriona. 

Vasseur was two days' sail from the fort when two 
Indians hailed him from the shore, inviting him to 
their dwellings. He accepted their guidance, and 
presently saw before him the cornfields and palisades 
of an Indian town. He and his followers were led 
through the wondering crowd to the lodge of MoUua, 
the chief, seated in the place of honor, and plentifully 
regaled with fish and bread. The repast over, Mollua 
made a speech. He told them that he was one of 
the forty vassal chiefs of the great Outina, lord of all 
the Thimagoas, whose warriors wore armor of gold 
and silver plate. He told them, too, of Potanou, his 
enemy, " a man cruell in warre ; " and of the two kings 
of the distant Appalachian Mountains, — Onatheaqua 
and Houstaqua, "great lords and abounding in 
riches." While thus, with earnest pantomime and 
broken words, the chief discoursed with his guests, 
Vasseur, intent and eager, strove to follow his mean- 
ing; and no sooner did he hear of these Appalachian 
treasures than he promised to join Outina in war 
against the two potentates of the mountains. Mollua, 
well pleased, promised that each of Outina's vassal 
chiefs should requite their French alhes with a heap 
of gold and silver two feet high. Thus, while Lau- 
donniere stood pledged to Satouriona, Vasseur made 
alliance with his mortal enemy. 

On his return, he passed a night in the lodge of 
one of Satouriona's chiefs, who questioned him 



1564.] INDIAN WAR. 63 

toiicliing his dealings with the Thimagoas. Vasseur 
replied that he had set upon them and put them to 
utter rout. But as the chief, seeming as yet unsatis- 
fied, continued his inquiries, the sergeant Francois 
de la Caille drew his sword, and, like Falstaff, re- 
enacted liis deeds of valor, pursuing and thrusting at 
the imaginary Thimagoas, as they fled before his 
fury. The chief, at length convinced, led the party 
to his lodge, and entertained them with a decoction of 
the herb called Cassina. 

Satouriona, elated by Laudonni^re's delusive prom- 
ises of aid, had summoned his so-called vassals to 
war. Ten chiefs and some five hundred warriors had 
mustered at his call, and the forest was alive with 
their bivouacs. When all was ready, Satouriona 
reminded the French commander of his pledge, and 
claimed its fulfilment, but got nothing but evasions 
in return. He stifled his rage, and prepared to go 
without his fickle ally. 

A fire was kindled near the bank of the river, and 
two large vessels of water were placed beside it. 
Here Satouriona took his stand, while his chiefs 
crouched on the grass around him, and the savage 
visages of his five hundred warriors filled the outer 
circle, their long hair garnished with feathers, or 
covered with the heads and skins of wolves, cougars, 
bears, or eagles. Satouriona, looking towards the 
country of his enemy, distorted his features into a 
wild expression of rage and hate; then muttered to 
himself; then howled an invocation to his god, the 



64 LAUD0NNI£:RE. [1564. 

Sun; then besprinkled the assembly with water from 
one of the vessels, and, turning the other upon the 
fire, suddenly quenched it. "So," he cried, "may 
the blood of our enemies be poured out, and their 
lives extinguished! " and the concourse gave forth an 
explosion of responsive yells, till the shores resounded 
with the wolfish din.^ 

The rites over, they set out, and in a few days 
returned exulting, with thirteen prisoners and a 
number of scalps. These last were hung on a pole 
before the royal lodge; and when night came, it 
brought with it a pandemonium of dancing and 
whooping, drumming and feasting. 

A notable scheme entered the brain of Laudonni^re. 
Resolved, cost what it might, to make a friend of 
Outina, he conceived it to be a stroke of policy to 
send back to him two of the prisoners. In the morn- 
ing he sent a soldier to Satouriona to demand them. 
The astonished chief gave a flat refusal, adding that 
he owed the French no favors, for they had shame- 
fully broken faith with him. On this, Laudonniere, 
at the head of twenty soldiers, proceeded to the 
Indian town, placed a guard at the opening of the 
great lodge, entered with his arquebusiers, and seated 
himself without ceremony in the highest place. Here, 
to show his displeasure, he remained in silence for 
half an hour. At length he spoke, renewing his 
demand. For some moments Satouriona made no 
reply; then he coldly observed that the sight of so 

^ Le Moyne makes the sceiio the subject of one of his pictures. 



1564.] VASSEUR'S EXPEDITION. 6b 

maii}^ iirmed men had frightened the prisoners away. 
Laudonniere grew peremptory, when the chief's son, 
Athore, went out, and presently returned with the 
two Indians, whom the French led back to Fort 
Caroline. 1 

Satouriona, says Laudonniere, "was wonderfully 
offended with his bravado, and bethought himselfe by 
all meanes how he might be revenged of us." He 
dissembled for the time, and presently sent three of 
his followers to the fort with a gift of pumpldns; 
though under this show of good-will the outrage 
rankled in his breast, and he never forgave it. The 
French had been unfortunate in their dealings with 
the Indians. They had alienated old friends in vain 
attempts to make new ones, 

Vasseur, with the Swiss ensign Arlac,^ a sergeant, 
and ten soldiers, went up the river early in September 
to carry back the two prisoners to Outina. Laudon- 
niere declares that they sailed eighty leagues, which 
would have carried them far above Lake Monroe; 
but it is certain that his reckoning is grossly exag- 
gerated. Their boat crawled up the lazy St. John's, 
no longer a broad lake-like expanse, but a narrow and 
tortuous stream, winding between swampy forests, or 
tlirough the vast savanna, a verdant sea of bulrushes 
and grass. At length they came to a village called 
Mayarqua, and thence, with the help of their oars, 
made their way to another cluster of wigwams, appar- 

1 Laudonniere in Hakluyt, III. 396. 

2 So written hj Laudonniere. The true name is probably Erlach. 

6 



^6 LAUDONNIERE. [1564. 

ently on a branch of the main river. Here they found 
Outina himself, whom, prepossessed with ideas of 
feudality, they regarded as the suzerain of a host of 
subordinate lords and princes, ruling over the sur- 
rounding swamps and pine barrens. Outina grate- 
fully received the two prisoners whom Laudonni^re 
had sent to propitiate him, feasted the wonderful 
strangers, and invited them to join him on a raid 
against his rival, Potanou. Laudonniere had promised 
to join Satouriona against Outina, and Vasseur now 
promised to join Outina against Potanou, the hope of 
finding gold being in both cases the source of this 
impolitic compliance. Vasseur went back to Fort 
Caroline with five of the men, and left Arlac with 
the remaining five to fight the battles of Outina. 

The warriors mustered to the number of some two 
hundred, and the combined force of white men and 
red took up their march. The wilderness through 
which they passed has not yet quite lost its charac- 
teristic features, — the bewildering monotony of the 
pine barrens, with their myriads of bare gray trunks 
and their canopy of perennial green, through which 
a scorching sun throws spots and streaks of yellow 
light, here on an undergrowth of dwarf palmetto, 
and there on dry sands half hidden by tufted wire- 
grass, and dotted with the little mounds that mark, 
the burrows of the gopher; or those oases in the 
desert, the " hummocks, " with their wild, redundant 
vegetation, their entanglement of trees, bushes, and 
vines, their scent of flowers and song of birds ; or the 



1564.] VASSEUK'S EXPEDITION". 67 

broad sunsliine of the savanna, where they waded to 
the neck in grass ; or the deep swamp, where, out of 
the black and root-encumbered slough, rise the huge 
buttressed trunks of the Southern cypress, the gray 
Spanish moss drooping from every bough and twig, 
wrapping its victims like a drapery of tattered cob- 
webs, and slowly draining away their life, for even 
plants devour each other, and play their silent parts 
in the universal tragedy of nature. 

The allies held their way through forest, savanna, 
and swamp, with Outina's Indians in the front, till 
they neared the hostile villages, when the modest 
warriors fell to the rear, and yielded the post of honor 
to the Frenchmen. 

An open country lay before them, with rough fields 
of maize, beans, and pumpkins, and the palisades of 
an Indian town. Their approach was seen, and the 
warriors of Potanou swarmed out to meet them ; buu 
the sight of the bearded strangers, the flash and 
report of the fire-arms, and the fall of their foremost 
chief, shot through the brain by Arlac, filled them 
with consternation, and they fled within their defences. 
Pursuers and pursued entered pell-mell together. 
The place was pillaged and burned, its inmates cap* 
tured or killed, and the victors returned triumphant. 



CHAPTER V, 

1564, 1565. 

CONSPIRACY. 

Discontent. •— Plot op La Roquette. — Piratical Excursion. 
— Sedition. — Illness of LaudonniIire. — Outbreak of thb 
Mutiny. — Buccaneering. — Order restored. 

In the little world of Fort Caroline, a miniature 
France, cliques and parties, conspiracy and sedition, 
were fast stirring into life. Hopes liad been dashed, 
and wild expectations had come to naught. The 
adventurers had found, not conquest and gold, but a 
dull exile in a petty fort by a hot and sickly river, 
with hard labor, bad fare, prospective famine, and 
nothing to break the weary sameness but some passing 
canoe or floating alligator. Gathered in knots, they 
nursed each other's wrath, and inveighed against the 
commandant. Why are we put on half-rations, when 
he told us that provision should be made for a full 
year? Where are the reinforcements and supplies 
that he said should foUoAV us from France? And 
why is he always closeted mth Ottigny, Arlac, and 
this and that favorite, when we, men of blood as 
good as theirs, cannot gain his ear for a moment? 

The young nobles, of whom there Avere many, were 
volunteers, who had paid their own expenses in 



1564.] PLOT OF LA ROQUETTE. 69 

expectation of a golden harvest, and they chafed in 
imiDatience and disgust. The religious element in 
the colony — unlike the former Huguenot emigration 
to Brazil — was evidently subordinate. The adven- 
turers thought more of their fortunes than of their 
faith ; yet there were not a few earnest enough in the 
doctrine of Geneva to complain loudly and bitterly 
that no ministers had been sent with them. The 
burden of all grievances was thrown upon Laudon- 
niere, whose greatest errors seem to have arisen from 
weakness and a lack of judgment, — fatal defects in 
his position. 

The growing discontent was brought to a partial 
head by one La Roquette, who gave out that, high 
up the river, he had discovered by magic a mine of 
gold and silver, which would give each of them a 
share of ten thousand crowns, besides fifteen hundred 
thousand for the King. But for Laudonni^re, he 
said, their fortunes would all be made. He found an 
ally in a gentleman named Genre, one of Laudon- 
niere's confidants, who, while still professing fast 
adherence to his interests, is charged by him with 
plotting against his life. "This Genre," he says, 
"secretly enfourmed the Souldiers that were already 
suborned by La Roquette, that I would deprive them 
of this great gaine, in that I did set them dayly on 
worke, not sending them on every side to discover 
the Countreys ; therefore that it were a good deede 
to dispatch mee out of the way, and to choose another 
Captaine in my place.*' The soldiers listened too 



70 CONSPIRACY. [1564. 

well. They made a flag of an old shirt, which they 
carried with them to the rampart when they went to 
their work, at the same time wearing their arms ; and, 
pursues Laudonniere, " these gentle Souldiers did the 
same for none other ende but to have killed mee and 
my Lieutenant also, if by chance I had given them 
any hard speeches." About this time, overheating 
himself, he fell ill, and was confined to his quarters. 
On this, Genre made advances to the apothecary, 
urging him to put arsenic into his medicine; but 
the apothecary shrugged his shoulders. They next 
devised a scheme to blow him up by hiding a keg of 
gunpowder under his bed ; but here, too, they failed. 
Hints of Genre's machinations reaching the ears of 
Laudonniere, the culprit fled to the woods, whence 
he wrote repentant letters, with full confession, to 
his commander. 

Two of the ships meanwhile returned to France, 
— the third, the "Breton," remaining at anchor oppo- 
site the fort. The malcontents took the opportunity 
to send home charges against Laudonniere of pecula- 
tion, favoritism, and tyranny.'^ 

On the fourth of September, Captain Bourdet, 
apparently a private adventurer, had arrived from 
France with a small vessel. When he returned, 
about the tenth of November, Laudonniere persuaded 
him to carry home seven or eight of the malcontent 
soldiers. Bourdet left some of his sailors in their 

1 Ba.vc\?i, Ensayo Cronologico^ 53; Laudouniere in Hakluvt, III. 400; 
Basanier, 61. 



1564.] SEDITION. 71 

place. The exchange proved most disastrous. These 
pirates joined with others whom they had won over, 
stole Laudonniere's two pinnaces, and set forth on a 
plundering excursion to the West Indies. They 
took a small Spanish vessel off the coast of Cuba, but 
were soon compelled by famine to put into Havana 
and give themselves up. Here, to make their peace 
with the authorities, they told all they knew of the 
position and purposes of their countrymen at Fort 
Caroline, and thus was forged the thunderbolt soon 
to be hurled against the wretched little colony. 

On a Sunday morning, Fran9ois de la Caille ^ came 
to Laudonniere's quarters, and, in the name of the 
whole company, requested him to come to the parade- 
ground. He complied, and issuing forth, his insepar 
rable Ottigny at his side, he saw some thirty of his 
officers, soldiers, and gentlemen volunteers waiting 
before the building with fixed and sombre counte- 
nances. La Caille, advancing, begged leave to read, 
in behalf of the rest, a paper which he held in his 
hand. It opened with protestations of duty and obe- 
dience; next came complaints of hard work, starva- 
tion, and broken promises, and a request that the 
petitioners should be allowed to embark in the vessel 
lying in the river, and cruise along the Spanish Main, 
in order to procure pro^dsions by purchase " or other- 

1 La Caille, as before mentioned, was Laudonniere's sergeant. The 
feudal rank of sergeant, it will be remembered, was widely different 
from the modern grade so named, and was held by men of noble birth, 
Le Moyne calls La Caille " Captain." 



72 CONSPIRACY. [1564. 

wise."^ In short, the flower of the company wished 
to turn buccaneers. 

Laudonniere refused, but assured them that, as 
soon as the defences of the fort should be completed, 
a search should be begun in earnest for the Appa- 
lachian gold mine, and that meanwhile two small 
vessels then building on the river should be sent 
along the coast to barter for provisions with the 
Indians. With this answer they were forced to con- 
tent themselves ; but the fermentation continued, and 
the plot thickened. Their spokesman, La Caille, 
however, seeing whither the affair tended, broke with 
them, and, except Ottigny, Vasseur, and the brave 
Swiss Arlac, was the only officer who held to his 
duty. 

A severe illness again seized Laudonniere, and con- 
fined him to his bed. Improving their advantage, 
the malcontents gained over nearly all the best soldiers 
in the fort. The ringleader was one Fourneaux, a 
man of good birth, but whom Le Moyne calls an ava- 
ricious h3^ocrite. He drew up a paper, to which 
sixty-six names were signed. La Caille boldly opposed 
the conspirators, and they resolved to kill him. His 
room-mate, Le Moyne, who had also refused to sign, 
received a hint of the design from a friend; upon 
which he warned La Caille, who escaped to the 
woods. It was late in the night. Fourneaux, with 
twenty men armed to the teeth, knocked fiercely at 
the commandant's door. Forcing an entrance, they 

^ Le Moyne; Brevls Narratio. 



1564.] MUTINY. 73 

wounded a gentleman who opposed tliem, and crowded 
around the sick man's bed. Fourneaux, armed with 
steel cap and cuirass, held his arquebuse to Laudon- 
niere's throat, and demanded leave to go on a cruise 
among the Spanish islands. The latter kept his 
presence of mind, and remonstrated with some firm- 
ness ; on which, with oaths and menaces, they dragged 
him from his bed, put him in fetters, carried him out 
to the gate of the fort, placed him in a boat, and 
rowed him to the ship anchored in the river. 
' Two other gangs at the same time visited Ottigny 
and Arlac, whom they disarmed, and ordered to keep 
their rooms till the night following, on pain of death. 
Smaller parties were busied, meanwhile, in disarming 
all the loyal soldiers. The fort was completely in 
the hands of the conspirators. Fourneaux drew up 
a commission for his meditated West India cruise, 
which he required Laudonniere to sign. The sick 
commandant, imprisoned in the ship with one attend- 
ant, at first refused; but receiving a message from 
the mutineers, that, if he did not comply, they would 
come on board and cut his throat, he at length 
yielded. 

The buccaneers now bestirred themselves to finish 
the two small vessels on which the carpenters had 
been for some time at work. In a fortnight they 
were ready for sea, armed and provided with the 
King's cannon, munitions, and stores. Trenchant, 
an excellent pilot, was forced to join the party. 
Their favorite object was the plunder of a certain 



74 CONSPIRACY. [1565. 

churcli on one of the Spanish islands, which they 
proposed to assail during the midnight mass of Christ- 
mas, whereby a triple end would be achieved, — 
first, a rich booty; secondly, the punishment of 
idolatry; thirdly, vengeance on the arch-enemies of 
their party and their faith. They set sail on the 
eighth of December, taunting those who remained, 
calling them greenhorns, and threatening condign 
punishment if, on their triumphant return, they 
should be refused free entrance to the fort.^ 

They were no sooner gone than the unfortunate 
Laudonni^re was gladdened in his solitude by the 
approach of his fast friends Ottigny and Arlac, who 
conveyed him to the fort and reinstated him. The 
entire command was reorganized, and new officers 
appointed. The colony was wofuUy depleted; but 
the bad blood had been drawn off, and thenceforth 
all internal danger was at an end. In finishing the 
fort, in building two new vessels to replace those of. 
which they had been robbed, and in various inter- 
course with the tribes far and near, the weeks passed 
until the twenty-fifth of March, when an Indian came 
in with the tidings that a vessel was hovering off 
the coast. Laudonniere sent to reconnoitre. The 
stranger lay anchored at the mouth of the river. She 
was a Spanish brigantine, manned by the returning 
mutineers, starving, downcast, and anxious to make 
terms. Yet, as their posture seemed not wholly 

1 Le Moyne, Brevis Narratio. Compare Laudonniere in Basanier, 
fol. 63-66. 



1565.] BUCCANEERING. 75 

pacific, Laudonniere sent down La Caille, with thirty 
soldiers concealed at the bottom of his little vessel. 
Seeing only two or three on deck, the pirates allowed 
her to come alongside; when, to their amazement, 
they were boarded and taken before they could snatch 
their arms. Discomfited, woebegone, and drunk, 
they were landed under a guard. Their story was 
soon told. Fortune had flattered them at the outset, 
and on the coast of Cuba they took a brigantine laden 
with wine and stores. Embarking in her, they next 
fell in with a caravel, which also they captured. 
Landing at a village in Jamaica, they plundered and 
caroused for a week, and had hardly re-embarked 
when they met a small vessel having on board the 
governor of the island.^ She made a desperate fight, 
but was taken at last, and with her a rich booty. 
They thought to put the governor to ransom ; but the 
astute official deceived them, and, on pretence of 
negotiating for the sum demanded, — together with 
"four or six parrots, and as many monkeys of the 
sort called sanguins, which are very beautiful," and 
for which his captors had also bargained, — contrived 
to send instructions to his wife. Hence it happened 
that at daybreak three armed vessels fell upon them, 
retook the prize, and captured or killed all the pirates 
but twenty-six, who, cutting the moorings of their 
brigantine, fled out to sea. Among these was the 
ringleader Fourneaux, and also the pilot Trenchant, 

1 Laudonniere in Basanier, fol. 66. Le Moyne says that it was the 
governor of Havana. 



76 CONSPIRACY. [1565. 

who, eager to return to Fort Caroline, whence he had 
been forcibly taken, succeeded during the night in 
bringing the vessel to the coast of Florida. Great 
were the wrath and consternation of the pirates when 
they saw their dilemma; for, having no provisions, 
they must either starve or seek succor at the fort. 
They chose the latter course, and bore away for the 
St. John's. A few casks of Spanish wine yet re- 
mained, and nobles and soldiers, fraternizing in the 
common peril of a halter, joined in a last carouse. 
As the wine mounted to their heads, in the mirth of 
drink and desperation, they enacted their own trial. 
One personated the judge, another the commandant; 
witnesses were called, with arguments and speeches 
on either side. 

"Say what you like," said one of them, after hear- 
ing the counsel for the defence ; " but if Laudonni^re 
does not hang us all, I will never call him an honest 
man.'' 

They had some hope of getting provisions from the 
Indians at the mouth of the river, and then putting 
to sea again; but this was frustrated by La Caille's 
sudden attack. A court-martial was called near Fort 
Caroline, and all were found guilty. Fourneaux and 
three others were sentenced to be hanged. 

"Comrades," said one of the condemned, appeal- 
ing to the soldiers, "will you stand by and see us 
butchered?" 

" These, " retorted Laudonnidre, "are no comrades 
of mutineers and rebels." 



1565.) ORDER RESTORED. 77 

At the request of his followers, however, he com- 
muted the sentence to shooting. 

A file of men, a rattling volley, and the debt of 
justice was paid. The bodies were hanged on gibbets, 
at the river's mouth, and order reigned at Fort 
Caroline. 1 

1 The above is from Le Moyne and Laudonni^re, who agree in 
essential points, but differ in a few details. The artist criticises the 
commandant freely. Compare Hawkins in Hakluyt, III. 614. 



CHAPTER VI. 

1564, 1565. 

FAMINE. — WAR. — SUCCOR. 

La Roche FBRRiijRE. — Pierre Gambie. — The King of Calos. 
— Ottigny's Expedition. — Starvation. — Efforts to escape 
FROM Florida. — Indians unfriendly. — Seizure of Outina. 
— Attempts to extort Ransom. — Ambuscade. — Battle. — 
Desperation of the French. — Sir John Hawkins relieves 
them. — Ribaut brings Reinforcements. — Arrival of the 
Spaniards. 

While the mutiny was brewing, one La Roche 
Ferri^re had been sent out as an agent or emissary 
among the more distant tribes. Sagacious, bold, and 
restless, he pushed his way from town to town, and 
pretended to have reached the mysterious mountains 
of Appalache. He sent to the fort mantles woven 
with feathers, quivers covered with choice furs, 
arrows tipped with gold, wedges of a green stone like 
beryl or emerald, and other trophies of his wander- 
ings. A gentleman named Grotaut took up the 
quest, and penetrated to the dominions of Hostaqua, 
who, it was pretended, could muster three or four 
thousand warriors, and who promised, with the aid of 
a hundred arquebusiers, to conquer all the kings of 
the adjacent mountains, and subject them and their 
gold mines to the rule of the French. A humbler 



1565.] THE KING OF CALOS. 79 

adventurer was Pierre Gamble, a robust and daring 
youtli, who had been brought up in the household of 
Coligny, and was now a soldier under Laudonniere. 
The latter gave him leave to trade with the Indians, 
— a privilege which he used so well that he grew rich 
with his traffic, became prime favorite with the chief 
of the island of Edelano, married his daughter, and, 
in his absence, reigned in his stead. But, as his 
sway verged towards despotism, his subjects took 
offence, and split his head with a hatchet. 

During the winter, Indians from the neighborhood 
of Cape Canaveral brought to the fort two Spaniards, 
wrecked fifteen years before on the southwestern 
extremity of the peninsula. They were clothed like 
the Indians, — in other words, were not clothed at 
all, — and their uncut hair streamed loose down their 
backs. They brought strange tales of those among 
whom they had dwelt. They told of the King of 
Calos, on whose domains they had been wrecked, a 
chief mighty in stature and in power. In one of his 
villages was a pit, six feet deep and as wide as a 
hogshead, filled with treasure gathered from Spanish 
wrecks on adjacent reefs and keys. The monarch 
was a priest too, and a magician, with power over the 
elements. Each year he withdrew from the public 
gaze to hold converse in secret with supernal or 
infernal powers; and each year he sacrificed to his 
gods one of the Spaniards whom the fortune of the 
sea had cast upon his shores. The name of the tribe 
is preserved in that of the river Caloosa. In close 



80 FAMINE. — WAR. — SUCCOR. [1565. 

league with him was the mighty Oathcaqua, dwelling 
near Cape Canaveral, who gave his daughter, a 
maiden of wondrous beauty, in marriage to his great 
ally. But as the bride with her bridesmaids was 
journeying towards Calos, escorted by a chosen band, 
they were assailed by a wild and warlike race, inhab- 
itants of an island called Sarrope, in the midst of a 
lake, who put the warriors to flight, bore the maidens 
captive to their watery fastness, espoused them all, 
and, we are assured, "loved them above all measure."^ 
Outina, taught by Arlac the efficacy of the French 
fire-arms, begged for ten arquebusiers to aid him on a 
new raid among the villages of Potanou, — again 
alluring his greedy allies by the assurance, that, thus 
reinforced, he would conquer for them a free access 
to the phantom gold mines of Appalache. Ottigny 
set forth on this fool's errand with thrice the force 
demanded. Three hundred Thimagoas and thirty 
Frenchmen took up their march through the pine 
barrens. Outina's conjurer was of the number, and 
had wellnigh ruined the enterprise. Kneeling on 
Ottigny's shield, that he might not touch the earth, 
with hideous grimaces, bowlings, and contortions, he 
wrought himself into a prophetic frenzy, and pro- 
claimed to the astounded warriors that to advance 
farther would be destruction. Outina was for instant 

1 Laudonni^re in Hakluyt, III. 406. Brinton, Floridian Peninsula, 
thinks there is truth in the story, and that Lake Weir, in Marion 
County, is the Lake of Sarrope. I give these romantic tales as I find 
them. 

* This ricene is the subject of Plate XIL of Le Moyne. 



1565.] STARVATION. 81 

retreat, but Ottigny's sarcasms shamed him into a 
show of courage. Again they moved forward, and 
soon encountered Potanou with all his host.^ The 
arquebuse did its work, — panic, slaughter, and a 
plentiful harvest of scalps. But no persuasion could 
induce Outina to follow up his victory. He went 
home to dance round his trophies, and the French 
returned disgusted to Fort Caroline. 

And now, in ample measure, the French began to 
reap the harvest of their folly. Conquest, gold, and 
military occupation had alone been their aims. Not 
a rood of ground had been stirred with the spade. 
Their stores were consumed, and the expected sup- 
plies had not come. The Indians, too, were hostile. 
Satouriona hated them as allies of his enemies ; and 
his tribesmen, robbed and maltreated by the lawless 
soldiers, exulted in their miseries. Yet in these, 
their dark and subtle neighbors, was their only hope. 

May-day came, the third anniversary of the day 
when Ribaut and his companions, full of delighted 
anticipation, had first explored the flowery borders 
of the St. John's. The contrast was deplorable; for 
within the precinct of Fort Caroline a homesick, 
squalid band, dejected and worn, dragged their 
shrunken limbs about the sun-scorched area, or lay 

1 Le Moyne drew a picture of the fight (Plate XIII.). In the fore- 
ground Ottigny is engaged in single combat with a gigantic savage, 
who, with club upheaved, aims a deadly stroke at the plumed helmet 
of his foe ; but the latter, with target raised to guard his head, darts 
under the arms of the naked Goliath, and transfixes him with his 
sword. 

6 



82 FAMINE. — WAR. — SUCCOR. [1565. 

stretched in listless wretchedness under the shade of 
the barracks. Some were digging roots in the forest, 
or gathering a kind of sorrel upon the meadows. If 
they had had any skill in hunting and fishing, the 
river and the woods would have supplied their needs ; 
but in this point, as in others, they were lamentably 
unfit for the work they had taken in hand. " Our 
miserie," says Laudonni^re, "was so great that one 
was found that gathered up all the fish-bones that he 
could finde, which he dried and beate into powder to 
make bread thereof. The effects of this hideous 
famine appeared incontinently among us, for our 
bones eftsoones beganne to cleave so neere unto the 
skinne, that the most part of the souldiers had their 
skinnes pierced thorow with them in many partes of 
their bodies." Yet, giddy with weakness, they 
dragged themselves in turn to the top of St. John's 
Bluff, straining their eyes across the sea to descry the 
anxiously expected sail. 

Had Coligny left them to perish ? or had some new 
tempest of calamity, let loose upon France, drowned 
the memory of their exile? In vain the watchman 
on the hill surveyed the solitude of waters. A deep 
dejection fell upon them, — a dejection that would 
have sunk to despair could their eyes have pierced 
the future. 

The Indians had left the neighborhood, but from 
time to time brought in meagre supplies of fish, which 
they sold to the famished soldiers at exorbitant prices. 
Lest they should pay the penalty of their extortiouj, 



1565.] EFFORTS TO ESCAPE. 83 

they would not enter the fort, but lay in their canoes 
in the river, beyond gunshot, waiting for their cus- 
tomers to come out to them. "Oftentimes," says 
Laudonniere, " our poor soldiers were constrained to 
give away the very shirts from their backs to get one 
fish. If at any time they shewed unto the savages 
the excessive price which they tooke, these villaines 
Avould answere them roughly and churlishly : If thou 
make so great account of thy marchandise, eat it, and 
we will eat our fish : then fell they out a laughing, 
and mocked us with open throat." 

The spring wore away, and no relief appeared. 
One thought now engrossed the colonists, that of 
return to France. Yasseur's ship, the "Breton," still 
remained in the river, and they had also the Spanish 
brigantine brought by the mutineers. But these 
vessels were insufficient, and they prepared to build 
a new one. The energy of reviving hope lent new 
life to their exhausted frames. Some gathered pitch 
in the pine forests; some made charcoal; some cut 
and sawed timber. The maize began to ripen, and 
this brought some relief ; but the Indians, exasperated 
and greedy, sold it with reluctance, and murdered 
two half -famished Frenchmen who gathered a handful 
in the fields. 

The colonists applied to Outina, who owed them 
two victories. The result was a churlish message 
and a niggardly supply of corn, coupled with an invi- 
tation to aid him against an insurgent chief, one 
Astina, the plunder of whose villages would yield an 



84 FAMINE. — WAR. — SUCCOR. [1565. 

ample supply. The offer was accepted. Ottigny and 
Vasseur set out, but were grossly deceived, led 
against a different enemy, and sent back empty- 
handed and half-starved. 

They returned to the fort, in the words of Laudon- 
nifere, " angry and pricked deepely to the quicke for 
being so mocked," and, joined by all their comrades, 
fiercely demanded to be led against Outina, to seize 
him, punish his insolence, and extort from his fears 
the supplies which could not be looked for from his 
gratitude. The commandant was forced to comply. 
Those who could bear the weight of their armor put 
it on, embarked, to the number of fifty, in two 
barges, and sailed up the river under Laudonniere 
himself. Having reached Outina's landing, they 
marched inland, entered his village, surrounded his 
mud-plastered palace, seized him amid the yells and 
bowlings of his subjects, and led him prisoner to their 
boats. Here, anchored in mid-stream, they demanded 
a supply of com and beans as the price of his ransom. 

The alarm spread. Excited warriors, bedaubed 
with red, came thronging from all his villages. The 
forest along the shore was full of them ; and the wife 
of the chief, followed by all the women of the place, 
uttered moans and outcries from the strand. Yet no 
ransom was offered, since, reasoning from their own 
instincts, they never doubted that, after the price was 
paid, the captive would be put to death. 

Laudonnidre waited two days, and then descended 
the river with his prisoner. In a rude chamber of 



1565.] THE CAPTIVE OUTINA. 85 

Fort Caroline the sentinel stood his guard, pike in 
liand, while before him crouched the captive chief, 
mute, impassive, and brooding on his woes. His old 
enemy, Satouriona, keen as a hound on the scent of 
prey, tried, by great offers, to bribe Laudonniere to 
give Outina into his hands ; but the French captain 
refused, treated his prisoner kindly, and assured him 
of immediate freedom on payment of the ransom. 

Meanwhile his captivity was bringing grievous afflic- 
tion on his tribesmen; for, despairing of his return, 
they mustered for the election of a new chief. Party 
strife ran high. Some were for a boy, his son, and 
some for an ambitious kinsman. Outina chafed in 
his prison on learning these dissensions; and, eager 
to convince his over-hasty subjects that their chief 
still lived, he was so profuse of promises that he was 
again embarked and carried up the river. 

At no great distance from Lake George, a small 
affluent of the St. John's gave access by water to a 
point within six French leagues of Outina *s principal 
town. The two barges, crowded with soldiers, and 
bearing also the captive Outina, rowed up this little 
stream. Indians awaited them at the landing, with 
gifts of bread, beans, and fish, and piteous prayers for 
their chief, upon whose liberation they promised an 
ample supply of corn. As they were deaf to all other 
terms, Laudonniere yielded, released his prisoner, 
and received in his place two hostages, who were fast 
bound in the boats. Ottigny and Arlac, with a 
strong detachment of arquebusiers, went to receive 



86 FAMINE.— WAR. — SUCCOR. [1565. 

the promised supplies, for which, from the first, full 
payment in merchandise had been offered. On their 
arrival at the village, they filed into the great central 
lodge, within whose dusky precincts were gathered 
the magnates of the tribe. Council-chamber, forum, 
banquet-hall, and dancing-hall all in one, the spacious 
structure could hold half the population. Here the 
French made their abode. With armor buckled, and 
arquebuse matches lighted, they watched with anxious 
eyes the strange, dim scene, half revealed by the 
daylight that streamed down through the hole at the 
apex of the roof. Tall, dark forms stalked to and 
fro, with quivers at their backs, and bows and arrows 
in their hands, while groups, crouched in the shadow 
beyond, eyed the hated guests with inscrutable vis- 
ages, and malignant, sidelong eyes. Corn came in 
slowly, but warriors mustered fast. The village with- 
out was full of them. The French officers grew 
anxious, and urged the chiefs to greater alacrity in 
collecting the promised ransom. The answer boded 
no good: "Our women are afraid when they see the 
matches of your guns burning. Put them out, and 
they will bring the corn faster." 

Outina was nowhere to be seen. At length they 
learned that he was in one of the small huts adjacent. 
Several of the officers went to him, complaining of 
the slow payment of his ransom. The kindness of 
his captors at Fort Caroline seemed to have won his 
heart. He replied, that such was the rage of his 
subjects that he could no longer control them; that 



1565.] AMBUSCADE. — BATTLE. 87 

the French were m danger; and that he had seen 
arrows stuck in the ground by the side of the path, 
in token that war was declared. The peril was thick- 
ening hourly, and Ottigny resolved to regain the 
boats while there was yet time. 

On the twenty-seventh of July, at nine in the 
morning, he set his men in order. Each shouldering 
a sack of corn, they marched through the rows of 
huts that surrounded the great lodge, and out betwixt 
the overlapping extremities of the palisade that 
encircled the town. Before them stretched a wide 
avenue, three or four hundred paces long, flanked by 
a natural growth of trees, — one of those curious 
monuments of native industry to which allusion has 
already been made. ^ Here Ottigny halted and formed 
his line of march. Arlac, with eight matchlock men, 
was sent in advance, and flanking parties w^ere thrown 
into the woods on either side. Ottigny told his 
soldiers that, if the Indians meant to attack them, 
they were probably in ambush at the other end of the 
avenue. He was right. As Arlac 's party reached 
the spot, the whole pack gave tongue at once. The 
war-whoop rose, and a tempest of stone-headed arrows 
clattered against the breast-plates of the French, or, 
scorching like fire, tore through their unprotected 
limbs. They stood firm, and sent back their shot so 
steadily that several of the assailants were laid dead, 
and the rest, two or three hundred in number, gave 
way as Ottigny came up with his men. 

1 See ante^ p. 58. 



88 FAMINE. — WAR. — SUCCOR. [1565. 

They moved on for a quarter of a mile through a 
country, as it seems, comparatively open, when again 
the war-cry pealed in front, and three hundred 
savages bounded to the assault. Their whoops were 
echoed from the rear. It was the party whom Arlac 
had just repulsed, and who, leaping and showering 
their arrows, were rushing on again with a ferocity 
restrained only by their lack of courage. There was 
no panic among the French. The men threw down 
their bags of corn, and took to their weapons. They 
blew their matches, and, under two excellent officers, 
stood well to their work. The Indians, on their part, 
showed good discipline after their fashion, and were 
perfectly under the control of their chiefs. With 
cries that imitated the yell of owls, the scream of 
cougars, and the howl of wolves, they ran up in suc- 
cessive bands, let fly their arrows, and instantly fell 
back, giving place to others. At the sight of the 
levelled arquebuse, they dropped flat on the ground. 
Whenever the French charged upon them, sword in 
hand, they fled through the woods like foxes ; and 
whenever the march was resumed, the arrows were 
showering again upon the flanks and rear of the retir- 
ing band. As they fell, the soldiers picked them up 
and broke them. Thus, beset mth swarming savages, 
the handful of Frenchmen pushed slowly onward, 
fighting as they went. 

The Indians gradually drew off, and the forest was 
silent again. Two of the French had been killed and 
twenty-two wounded, several so severely that they 



1565.] FRIENDS OR FOES? 89 

were supported to the boats with the utmost diffi- 
culty. Of the corn, two bags only had been brought 
off. 

Famine and desperation now reigned at Fort 
Caroline. The Indians had killed two of the carpen- 
ters; hence long delay in the finishing of the new 
ship. They would not wait, but resolved to put to 
sea in the " Breton " and the brigantine. The problem 
was to find food for the voyage; for now, in their 
extremity, they roasted and ate snakes, a delicacy in 
which the neighborhood abounded. 

On the third of August, Laudonniere, perturbed 
and oppressed, was walking on fhe hill, when, look- 
ing seaward, he saw a sight that sent a thrill through 
bis exhausted frame. A great ship was standing 
towards the river's mouth. Then another came in 
sight, and another, and another. He despatched a 
messenger with the tidings to the fort below. The 
languid forms of his sick and despairing men rose 
and danced for joy, and voices shrill with weakness 
joined in wild laughter and acclamation, insomuch, 
he says, " that one would have thought them to bee 
out of their wittes." 

A doubt soon mingled with their joy. Who were 
the strangers ? Were they the friends so long hoped 
for in vain? or were they Spaniards, their dreaded 
enemies? They were neither. The foremost ship 
was a stately one, of seven hundred tons, a great 
burden at that day. She was named the " Jesus ; " 
and with her were three smaller vessels, the " Solo- 



90 FAMINE. — WAR. — SUCCOR. [1565. 

mon, " the " Tiger, " and the " Swallow. " Their com- 
mander was " a right worshipful and valiant knight, " 
— for so the record styles him, — a pious man and a 
prudent, to judge him by the orders he gave his crew 
when, ten months before, he sailed out of Plymouth: 
"Serve God daily, love one another, preserve your 
victuals, beware of fire, and keepe good companie." 
Nor were the crew unworthy the graces of their chief; 
for the devout chronicler of the voyage ascribes 
their deliverance from the perils of the sea to "the 
Almightie God, who never suffereth his Elect to 
perish." 

Who then were they, this chosen band, serenely 
conscious of a special Providential care ? They were 
the pioneers of that detested traffic destined to inocu- 
late with its infection nations yet unborn, the parent 
of discord and death, filling half a continent with the 
tramp of armies and the clash of fratricidal swords. 
Their chief was Sir John Hawldns, father of the 
English slave-trade. 

He had been to the coast of Guinea, where he 
bought and kidnapped a cargo of slaves. These he 
had sold to the jealous Spaniards of Hispaniola, for- 
cing them, with sword, matchlock, and culverin, to 
grant him free trade, and then to sign testimonials 
that he had borne himself as became a peaceful mer- 
chant. Prospering greatly by this summary com- 
merce, but distressed by the want of water, he had 
put into the River of May to obtain a supply. 

Among the rugged heroes of the British marine, 



1565.] SIR JOHN HAWKINS. 91 

Sir John stood in the front rank, and along with 
Drake, his relative, is extolled as " a man borne for 
the honour of the English name. . . . Neither did 
the West of England yeeld such an Indian Neptunian 
paire as were these two Ocean peeres, Hawkins and 
Drake." So writes the old chronicler, Purchas, 
and all England was of his thinking. A hardy and 
skiKul seaman, a bold fighter, a loyal friend and a 
stern enemy, overbearing towards equals, but kind, 
in his bluff way, to those beneath him, rude in 
speech, somewhat crafty withal and avaricious, he 
buffeted his way to riches and fame, and died at last 
full of years and honor. As for the abject humanity 
stowed between the reeking decks of the ship " Jesus, " 
they were merely in his eyes so many black cattle 
tethered for the market. ^ 

Hawkins came up the river in a pinnace, and 
landed at Fort Caroline, accompanied, says Laudon- 

1 For Hawkins, see the three narratives in Hakluyt, III. 594 ; Pur- 
chas, rV. 1177; Stow, Chron., 807; Biog. Britan., Art. Hawkins; 
Anderson, History of Commerce, I. 400. 

He was not knighted until after the voyage of 1564-65 ; hence there 
is an auachrouism in the text. As he was held " to have opened a new 
trade," he was entitled to bear as his crest a " Moor " or negro, bound 
with a cord. In Fairbairn's Crests of Great Britain and Ireland, where 
it is figured, it is described, not as a negro, but as a " naked man." In 
Burke's Landed Gentry, it is said that Sir John obtained it in honor of 
a great victory over the Moors ! His only African victories were in 
kidnapping raids on negro villages. In Letters on Certain Passages in 
the Life of Sir John Hawkins, the coat is engraved in detail. The 
" demi-Moor " has the thick lips, the flat nose, and the wool of the 
unequivocal negro. 

Sir John became Treasurer of the Royal Navy and Kear-Admiral, 
and founded a marine hospital at Chatham. 



92 FAMINE. — WAR. - SUCCOR. [1565. 

niere, "with gentlemen honorably apparelled, yet 
unarmed. " Between the Huguenots and the English 
Puritans there was a double tie of sympathy. Both 
hated priests, and both hated Spaniards. Wakening 
from their apathetic misery, the starveling garrison 
hailed him as a deliverer. Yet Hawkins secretly 
rejoiced when he learned their purpose to abandon 
Florida ; for although, not to tempt his cupidity, they 
hid from him the secret of their Appalachian gold 
mine, he coveted for his royal mistress the possession 
of this rich domain. He shook his head, however, 
when he saw the vessels in which they proposed to 
embark, and offered them all a free passage to France 
in his own ships. This, from obvious motives of 
honor and prudence, Laudonni^re declined, upon 
which Hawkins offered to lend or sell to him one of 
his smaller vessels. 

Laudonni^re hesitated, and hereupon arose a great 
clamor. A mob of soldiers and artisans beset his 
chamber, threatening loudly to desert him, and take 
passage with Hawkins, unless the offer were accepted. 
The commandant accordingly resolved to buy the 
vessel. The generous slaver, whose reputed avarice 
nowhere appears in the transaction, desired him to set 
his own price; and, in place of money, took the 
cannon of the fort, with other articles now useless to 
their late owners. He sent them, too, a gift of wine 
and biscuit, and supplied them with provisions for the 
voyage, receiving in payment Laudonni^re's note; 
"for which," adds the latter, "untill this present I 



1565.] ARRIVAL OF RIBAUT. 93 

am indebted to him. " With a friendly leave-taking, 
he returned to his ships and stood out to sea, leaving 
golden opinions among the grateful inmates of Fort 
Caroline. 

Before the English top-sails had sunk beneath the 
horizon, the colonists bestirred themselves to depart. 
In a few days their preparations were made. They 
waited only for a fair wind. It was long in coming, 
and meanwhile their troubled fortunes assumed a new 
phase. 

On the twenty-eighth of August, the two captains 
Vasseur and Verdier came in with tidings of an 
approaching squadron. Again the fort was wild with 
excitement. Friends or foes, French or Spaniards, 
succor or death, — betwixt these were their hopes and 
fears divided. On the following morning, they saw 
seven barges rowing up the river, bristling with 
weapons, and crowded with men in armor. The 
sentries on the bluff challenged, and received no 
answer. One of them fired at the advancing boats, 
and still there was no response. Laudonni^re was 
almost defenceless. He had given his heavier cannon 
to Hawkins, and only two field-pieces were left. 
They were levelled at the foremost boats, and the 
word to fire was about to be given, when a voice from 
among the strangers called out that they were French, 
commanded by Jean Ribaut. 

At the eleventh hour, the long looked for succors 
were come. Ribaut had been commissioned to sail 
with seven ships for Florida. A disorderly concourse 



94 FAMINE. — WAR. —SUCCOR. [1565. 

of disbanded soldiers, mixed with artisans and their 
families, and young nobles weary of a two years' 
peace, were mustered at the port of Dieppe, and 
embarked, to the number of three hundred men, bear- 
ing with them all things thought necessary to a 
prosperous colony. 

No longer in dread of the Spaniards, the colonists 
saluted the new-comers with the cannon by which a 
moment before they had hoped to blow them out of 
the water. Laudonniere issued from his stronghold 
to welcome them, and regaled them with what cheer 
he could. Ribaut was present, conspicuous by his 
long beard, an astonishment to the Indians ; and here, 
too, were officers, old friends of Laudonniere. Why, 
then, had they approached in the attitude of enemies ? 
The mystery was soon explained ; for they expressed 
to the commandant their pleasure at finding that the 
charges made against him had proved false. He 
begged to know more ; on which Ribaut, taking him 
aside, told him that the returning ships had brought 
home letters filled with accusations of arrogance, 
tyranny, cruelty, and a purpose of establishing an 
independent command, — accusations which he now 
saw to be unfounded, but which had been the occa- 
sion of his unusual and startling precaution. He 
gave him., too, a letter from Admiral Coligny. In 
brief but courteous terms, it required him to resign 
his command, and requested his return to France to 
clear his name from the imputations cast upon it.^ 

1 See the letter in Basanier, 1 02. 



1565.] ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS. 95 

Ribaut warmly urged liim to remain ; but Laudonni^re 
declined his friendly proposals. 

Worn in body and mind, mortified and wounded, 
he soon fell ill again. A peasant woman attended 
him, who was brought over, he says, to nurse the sick 
and take charge of the poultry, and of whom Le 
Moyne also speaks as a servant, but who had been 
made the occasion of additional charges against him, 
most offensive to the austere Admiral. 

Stores were landed, tents were pitched, Avomen and 
children were sent on shore, feathered Indians mingled 
in the throng, and the borders of the River of May 
swarmed with busy life. " But, lo, how oftentimes 
misfortune doth search and pursue us, even then 
when we thinke to be at rest ! " exclaims the unhappy 
Laudonniere. Amidst the light and cheer of reno- 
vated hope, a cloud of blackest omen was gathering 
in the east. 

At half-past eleven on the night of Tuesday, the 
fourth of September, the crew of Ribaut' s flag-ship, 
anchored on the still sea outside the bar, saw a huge 
hulk, grim with the throats of cannon, drifting towards 
them through the gloom ; and from its stern rolled on 
the sluggish air the portentous banner of Spain. 



CHAPTER YII. 

1565. 

MENENDEZ. 

Spain. — Pedro Menendez de AriLts. — His Boyhood. — Hia 
Early Career. — His Petition to the King. — Commissioned 

TO CONQUER FLORIDA. — HiS POWERS. — HiS DESIGNS. — A NeW 

Crusade. — Sailing of the Spanish Fleet. — A Storm. — 
Porto Rico. — Energy of Menendez. — He reaches Florida. 

— Attacks Ribaut's Ships. — Founds St. Augustine. — 
Alarm of the French. — Bold Decision of Ribaut. — De- 
fenceless Condition of Fort Caroline. — Ribaut thwarted. 

— Tempest. — Menendez marches on the French Fort. — 
His Desperate Position. — The Fort taken. — The Massa- 
cre. — The Fugitives. 

The monk, the inquisitor, and the Jesuit were 
lords of Spain, — sovereigns of her sovereign, for 
they had formed the dark and narrow mind of that 
tyrannical recluse. They had formed the minds of 
her people, quenched in blood every spark of rising 
heresy, and given over a noble nation to a bigotry 
blind and inexorable as the doom of fate. Linked 
with pride, ambition, avarice, every passion of a 
rich, strong nature, potent for good and ill, it made 
the Spaniard of that day a scourge as dire as ever fell 
on man. 

Day was breaking on the world. Light, hope, and 
freedom pierced with vitalizing ray the clouds and 



1565.] SPAIN. 97 

the miasma that hung so thick over the prostrate 
Middle Age, once noble and mighty, now a foul 
image of decay and death. Kindled with new life, 
the nations gave birth to a progeny of heroes, and the 
stormy glories of the sixteenth century rose on awak- 
ened Europe. But Spain was the citadel of dark- 
ness, — a monastic cell, an inquisitorial dungeon, 
where no ray could pierce. She was the bulwark of 
the Church, against whose adamantine wall the waves 
of innovation beat in vain.^ In every country of 
Europe the party of freedom and reform was the 
national party, the party of reaction and absolutism 
was the Spanish party, leaning on Spain, looking to 
her for help. Above all, it was so in France ; and, 
while within her bounds there was for a time some 
semblance of peace, the national and religious rage 
burst forth on a wilder theatre. Thither it is for us 
to follow it, where, on the shores of Florida, the 
Spaniard and the Frenchman, the bigot and the 
Huguenot, met in the grapple of death. 

In a corridor of his palace, Philip the Second was 
met by a man who had long stood waiting his 
approach, and who with proud reverence placed a 
petition in the hand of the pale and sombre King. 

1 "Better a ruined kingdom, true to itself and its king, than one left 
unharmed to the profit of the Devil and the heretics." — Correspon- 
dance de Philippe II., cited by Prescott, Philip II., Book III. c. 2, 
note 36. 

" A prince can do nothing more shameful, or more hurtful to him- 
self, than to permit his people to live according to their conscience." 
— The Duke of Alva, in Davila, Lib. III. p. 341. 

7 



98 MENENDEZ. [1565. 

The petitioner was Pedro Menendez de Avilds, one 
of the ablest and most distinguished officers of the 
Spanish marine. He was born of an ancient Asturian 
family. His boyhood had been wayward, ungovern- 
able, and fierce. He ran off at eight years of age, 
and when, after a search of six months, he was found 
and brought back, he ran off again. This time he 
was more successful, escaping on board a fleet bound 
against the Barbary corsairs, where his precocious 
appetite for blood and blows had reasonable content- 
ment. A few years later, he found means to build a 
small vessel, in which he cruised against the corsairs 
and the French, and, though still hardly more than 
a boy, displayed a singular address and daring. The 
wonders of the New World now seized his imagina- 
tion. He made a voyage thither, and the ships under 
his charge came back freighted with wealth. The 
war with France was then at its height. As captain- 
general of the fleet, he was sent with troops to 
Flanders ; and to their prompt arrival was due, it is 
said, the victory of St. Quentin. Two years later, 
he commanded the luckless armada which bore back 
Philip to his native shore. On the way, the King 
narrowly escaped drowning in a storm off the port of 
Laredo. This mischance, or his own violence and 
insubordination, wrought to the prejudice of Men- 
endez. He complained that his services were ill 
repaid. Philip lent him a favoring ear, and despatched 
him to the Indies as general of the fleet and army. 
Here he found means to amass vast riches ; and, in- 



1565.] HIS PETITION" TO THE KING. 99 

1561, on his return to Spain, charges were brought 
against him of a nature which his too friendly biog- 
rapher does not exphiin. The Council of the Indies 
arrested him. He was imprisoned and sentenced to 
a heavy fine; but, gaining his release, hastened to 
court to throw himself on the royal clemency. ^ His 
petition was most graciously received. Philip restored 
his command, but remitted only half his fine, a strong 
presumption of his guilt. 

Menendez kissed the royal hand; he had another 
petition in reserve. His son had been wrecked near 
the Bermudas, and he would fain go thither to find 
tidings of his fate. The pious King bade him trust 
in God, and promised that he should be despatched 
without delay to the Bermudas and to Florida, with 
a commission to make an exact survey of the neigh- 
boring seas for the profit of future voyagers; but 
Menendez was not content with such an errand. He 
knew, he said, nothing of greater moment to his 
Majesty than the conquest and settlement of Florida. 
The climate was healthful, the soil fertile; and, 
worldly advantages aside, it was peopled by a race 
sunk in the thickest shades of infidelity. "Such 
grief," he pursued, "seizes me, when I behold this 
multitude of wretched Indians, that I should choose 
the conquest and settling of Florida above all com- 
mands, offices, and dignities which your Majesty 
might bestow. "2 Those who take this for hypocrisy 
do not know the Spaniard of the sixteenth century. 

1 Barcia (Cardenas j Cano), Ensayo CronologicOf 57-64. 

2 Ibid., 65. 

LOfa 



100 MENENDEZ. [1565. 

The King was edified by his zeal. An enterprise 
of such spiritual and temporal promise was not to be 
slighted, and Menendez was empowered to conquer 
and convert Florida at his own cost. The conquest 
was to be effected within three years. Menendez was 
to take with him five hundred men, and supply them 
with five hundred slaves, besides horses, cattle, sheep, 
and hogs. Villages were to be built, with forts to 
defend them , and sixteen ecclesiastics, of whom four 
should be Jesuits, were to form the nucleus of a Flor- 
idan church. The King, on his part, granted Men- 
endez free trade with Hispaniola, Porto Rico, Cuba, 
and Spain, the office of Adelantado of Florida for life, 
with the right of naming his successor, and large emol- 
uments to be drawn from the expected conquest.^ 

The compact struck, Menendez hastened to his 
native Asturias to raise money among his relatives. 
Scarcely was he gone, when tidings reached Madrid 
that Florida was already occupied by a colony of 
French Protestants, and that a reinforcement, under 
Ribaut, was on the point of sailing thither. A 
French historian of high authority declares that these 
advices came from the Catholic party at the French 
court, in whom every instinct of patriotism was lost 
in their hatred of Coligny and the Huguenots. Of 
this there can be little doubt, though information also 
came about this time from the buccaneer Frenchmen 
captured in the West Indies. 

1 The above is from Barcia, as the original compact has not been 
found. For the patent conferring the title of "Adelantado," see 
Coleccion de Varios Documentos, I. 13. 



1565.] ATTITUDE OF FRANCE. 101 

Foreigners had invaded the territory of Spain. 
The trespassers, too, were heretics, foes of God, and 
liegemen of the Devil. Their doom was fixed. But 
how would France endure an assault, in time of 
peace, on subjects who had gone forth on an enter- 
prise sanctioned by the Crown, and undertaken in its 
name and under its commission ? 

The throne of France, in which the corruption of 
the nation seemed gathered to a head, was trembling 
between the two parties of the Catholics and the 
Huguenots, whose chiefs aimed at royalty. Flatter- 
ing both, caressing both, playing one against the 
other, and betraying both, Catherine de Medicis, by 
a thousand crafty arts and expedients of the moment, 
sought to retain the crown on the head of her weak 
and vicious son. Of late her crooked policy had led 
her towards the Catholic party, in other words the 
party of Spain ; and she had already given ear to the 
savage Duke of Alva, urging her to the course which, 
seven years later, led to the carnage of St. Bartholo- 
mew. In short, the Spanish policy was in the 
ascendant, and no thought of the national interest or 
honor could restrain that basest of courts from aban- 
doning by hundreds to the national enemy those whom 
it was itself meditating to immolate by thousands.^ 
It might protest for form's sake, or to quiet public 

1 The French Jesuit Charlevoix says : " Ou avoit donne "k cette ex- 
pedition tout I'air d'une guerre sainte, entreprise centre les H^r^tiquea 
de concert avec le Roy de France." Nor does Charlevoix seem to 
doubt this complicity of Charles the Ninth in an attack on his owi^ 
subjects. 



102 MENENDEZ. [1565. 

clamor; but Philip of Spain well knew that it would 
end in patient submission. 

Menendez was summoned back in haste to the 
Spanish court. His force must be strengthened. 
Three hundred and ninety-four men were added at 
the royal charge, and a corresponding number of 
transport and supply ships. It was a holy war, a 
crusade, and as such was preached by priest and monk 
along the western coasts of Spain. All the Biscayan 
ports flamed with zeal, and adventurers crowded to 
enroll themselves ; since to plunder heretics is good 
for the soul as well as the purse, and broil and mas- 
sacre have double attraction when promoted into a 
means of salvation. It was a fervor, deep and hot, 
but not of celestial kindling; nor yet that buoyant 
and inspiring zeal which, when the Middle Age was 
in its youth and prime, glowed in the souls of Tancred, 
Godfrey, and St. Louis, and which, when its day was 
long since past, could still find its home in the great 
heart of Columbus. A darker spirit urged the new 
crusade, — born not of hope, but of fear, slavish in 
its nature, the creature and the tool of despotism; 
for the typical Spaniard of the sixteenth century was 
not in strictness a fanatic, he was bigotry incarnate. 

Heresy was a plague-spot, an ulcer to be eradicated 
with fire and the knife, and this foul abomination 
was infecting the shores which the Vicegerent of 
Christ had given to the King of Spain, and which 
the Most Catholic King had given to the Adelantado. 
Thus would countless heathen tribes be doomed to an 



1565.] HIS PROJECTS. 103 

eternity of flame, and the Prince of Darkness hold 
his ancient sway unbroken ; and for the Adelantado 
himself, the vast outlays, the vast debts of his bold 
Floridan venture would be all in vain, and his fortunes 
be wrecked past redemption through these tools of 
Satan. As a Catholic, as a Spaniard, and as an 
adventurer, his course was clear. 

The work assigned him was prodigious. He was 
Invested with power almost absolute, not merely over 
the peninsula which now retains the name of Florida, 
but over all North America, from Labrador to Mexico ; 
for this was the Florida of the old Spanish geographers, 
and the Florida designated in the commission of 
Menendez. It was a continent which he was to con- 
quer and occupy out of his own purse. The impover- 
ished King contracted with his daring and ambitious 
subject to win and hold for him the territory of the 
future United States and British Provinces. His 
plan, as afterwards exposed at length in his letters to 
Philip the Second, was, first, to plant a garrison at 
Port Royal, and next to fortify strongly on Chesa- 
peake Bay, called by him St. Mary's. He believed 
that adjoining this bay was an arm of the sea, run- 
ning northward and eastward, and communicating 
with the Gulf of St. Lawrence, thus making New 
England, with adjacent districts, an island. His 
proposed fort on the Chesapeake, securing access, by 
this imaginary passage, to the seas of Newfoundland, 
would enable the Spaniards to command the fisheries, 
on which both the French and the English had long 



104 MENENDEZ. [1565. 

encroached, to the great prejudice of Spanish rights. 
Doubtless, too, these inland waters gave access to the 
South Sea, and their occupation was necessary to 
prevent the French from penetrating thither ; for that 
ambitious people, since the time of Cartier, had never 
abandoned their schemes of seizing this portion of 
the dominions of the King of Spain. Five hundred 
soldiers and one hundred sailors must, he urges, take 
possession, without delay, of Port Royal and the 
Chesapeake. 1 

Preparation for his enterprise was pushed with 
furious energy. His whole force, when the several 
squadrons were united, amounted to two thousand 
six hundred and forty-six persons, in thirty-four ves- 
sels, one of which, the San Pelayo, bearing Menendez 
himself, was of nine hundred and ninety-six tons' 
burden, and is described as one of the finest ships 
afloat. 2 There were twelve Franciscans and eight 
Jesuits, besides other ecclesiastics ; and many knights 
of Galicia, Biscay, and the Asturias took part in the 

1 Cartas escritas al Rey por el General Pero Menendez de Aviles. 
These are the official despatches of Menendez, of which the originals 
are preserved in the archives of Seville. They are very voluminous 
and minute in detail. Copies of them were obtained by the aid of 
Buckingham Smith, Esq., to whom the writer is also indebted for 
various other documents from the same source, throwing new light on 
the events described. Menendez calls Port Royal " St. Elena," a name 
afterwards applied to the sound which still retains it. Compare 
Historical Magazine, IV. 320. 

2 This was not so remarkable as it may appear. Charnock, History 
of Marine Architecture, gives the tonnage of the ships of the Invincible 
Armada. The flag-ship of the Andalusian squadron was of fifteen 
hundred and fifty tons ; several were of about twelve hundred. 



1565.] SAILS FROM CADIZ. 105 

expedition. With a slight exception, the whole was 
at the Adelantado's charge. Within the first four- 
teen months, according to his admirer, Barcia, the 
adventure cost him a million ducats.^ 

Before the close of the year, Sancho de Arciniega 
was commissioned to join Menendez with an addi- 
tional force of fifteen hundred men.^ 

Red-hot with a determined purpose, the Adelantado 
would brook no delay. To him, says the chronicler, 
every day seemed a year. He was eager to anticipate 
Ribaut, of whose designs and whose force he seems 
to have been informed to the minutest particular, but 
whom he hoped to thwart and ruin by gaining Fort 
Caroline before him. With eleven ships, therefore, 
he sailed from Cadiz, on the twenty-ninth of June, 
1565, leaving the smaller vessels of his fleet to follow 
with what speed they might. He touched first at the 
Canaries, and on the eighth of July left them, steer- 
ing for Dominica. A minute account of the voyage 

1 Barcia, 69. The following passage in one of the unpublished 
letters of Menendez seems to indicate that the above is exaggerated : 
" Your Majesty may be assured by me, that, had I a million, more or 
less, I would employ and spend the whole in this undertaking, it being 
so greatly to [the glory of] God our Lord, and the increase of our 
Holy Catholic Faith, and the service and authority of your Majesty; 
and thus I have offered to our Lord whatever He shall give me in this 
world, [and whatever] I shall possess, gain, or acquire shall be devoted 
to the planting of the Gospel in this land, and the enlightenment of 
the natives thereof, and this I do promise to your Majesty." This 
letter is dated 11 September, 1565. 

2 Ano de 1565. Nombramiento de Capitan- General de la Armada 
destinada para yr d la Provincia de la Florida al sccorro del General 
Pero Menendez de Avile's, hecho por Su Magestad al Capitan Sancho da 
Arciniega. 



106 MENENDEZ. [1565, 

has come down to us, written by Mendoza, clia]3lain 
of the expedition, — a somewhat dull and illiterate 
person, who busily jots down the incidents of each 
passing day, and is constantly betraying, with a cer- 
tain awkward simplicity, how the cares of this world 
and of the next jostle each other in his thoughts. 

On Friday, the twentieth of July, a storm fell upon 
them with appalling fury. The pilots lost their wits, 
and the sailors gave themselves up to their terrors. 
Throughout the night, they beset Mendoza for con- 
fession and absolution, a boon not easily granted, for 
the seas swept the crowded decks with cataracts of 
foam, and the shriekings of the gale in the rigging 
overpowered the exhortations of the half-drowned 
priest. Cannon, cables, spars, water-casks, were 
thrown overboard, and the chests of the sailors would 
have followed, had not the latter, in spite of their 
fright, raised such a howl of remonstrance that the 
order was revoked. At length day dawned. Plung- 
ing, reeling, half under water, quivering with the 
shock of the seas, whose mountain ridges rolled down 
upon her before the gale, the ship lay in deadly peril 
from Friday till Monday noon. Then the storm 
abated; the sun broke out; and again she held her 
course. 1 

They reached Dominica on Sunday, the fifth of 
August. The chaplain tells us how he went on shore 

1 Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, Relacion de la Jornada de 
Pedro Menendez, printed in Coleccion de Documentos Ineditos, III. 441 
(Madrid, 1865). There is a French translation in the Floride of 
Ternaux-Compans. Letter of Menendez to the King, 13 August, 1565. 



1565.] REACHES PORTO RICO. 107 

to refresh himself; how, while his Italian servant 
washed his linen at a brook, he strolled along the 
beach and picked up shells ; and how he was scared, 
first, by a prodigious turtle, and next by a vision of 
the cannibal natives, which caused his prompt retreat 
to the boats. 

On the tenth, they anchored in the harbor of Porto 
Rico, where they found two ships of their squadron, 
from which they had parted in the storm. One of 
them was the "San Pelayo," with Menendez on 
board. Mendoza informs us, that in the evening 
the officers came on board the ship to which he was 
attached, when he, the chaplain, regaled them with 
sweetmeats, and that Menendez invited him not only 
to supper that night, but to dinner the next day, "for 
the which I thanked him, as reason was,'^ says the 
gratified churchman. 

Here thirty men deserted, and three priests also 
ran off, of which Mendoza bitterly complains, as 
increasing his own work. The motives of the clerical 
truants may perhaps be inferred from a worldly temp- 
tation to which the chaplain himself was subjected. 
" I was offered the service of a chapel where I should 
have got a peso for every mass I said, the whole year 
round; but I did not accept it, for fear that what 1 
hear said of the other three would be said of me. 
Besides, it is not a place where one can hope for any 
great advancement, and I wished to try whether, in 
refusing a benefice for the love of the Lord, He will 
not repay me with some other stroke of fortune before 



108 MENENDEZ. [1565 

the end of the voyage ; for it is my aim to serve God 
and His blessed Mother. "^ 

The original design had been to rendezvous at 
Havana, but with the Adelantado the advantages of 
despatch outweighed every other consideration. He 
resolved to push directly for Florida. Five of his 
scattered ships had by this time rejoined company, 
comprising, exclusive of officers, a force of about five 
hundred soldiers, two hundred sailors, and one hun- 
dred colonists. 2 Bearing northward, he advanced by 
an unknown and dangerous course along the coast of 
Hayti and through the intricate passes of the Baha- 
mas. On the night of the twenty-sixth, the "San 
Pelayo" struck three times on the shoals; "but," 
says the chaplain, "inasmuch as our enterprise was 
undertaken for the sake of Christ and His blessed 
Mother, two heavy seas struck her abaft, and set her 
afloat again." 

At length the ships lay becalmed in the Bahama 
Channel, slumbering on the glassy sea, torpid with 
the heats of a West Indian August. Menendez called 
a council of the commanders. There was doubt and 
indecision. Perhaps Ribaut had already reached the 
French fort, and then to attack the united force 
would be an act of desperation. Far better to await 
their lagging comrades. But the Adelantado was of 
another mind; and, even had his enemy arrived, he 
was resolved that he should have no time to fortify 
himself. 

1 Mendoza, Relacion de la Jornada de Pedro Menendez, 

2 Letter of Menendez to the King, 11 September, 1565. 



1565.] KEACHES FLORIDA. 109 

" It is God's will, " lie said, " that our victory should 
be due, not to our numbers, but to His all-powerful 
aid. Therefore has He stricken us with tempests, 
and scattered our ships." ^ And he gave his voice 
for instant advance. 

There was much dispute ; even the chaplain remon- 
strated; but nothing could bend the iron will of 
Menendez. Nor was a sign of celestial approval 
wanting. At nine in the evening, a great meteor 
burst forth in mid-heaven, and, blazing like the sun, 
rolled westward towards the coast of Florida. ^ The 
fainting spirits of the crusaders were revived. Dili- 
gent preparation was begun. Prayers and masses 
were said ; and, that the temporal arm might not fail, 
the men were daily practised on deck in shooting at 
marks, in order, says the chronicle, that the recruits 
might learn not to be afraid of their guns. 

The dead calm continued. "We were all very 
tired," says the chaplain, "and I above all, with pray- 
ing to God for a fair wind. To-day, at about two in 
the afternoon. He took pity on us, and sent us a 
breeze."^ Before night they saw land, — the faint 
line of forest, traced along the watery horizon, that 
marked the coast of Florida. But where, in all this 
vast monotony, was the lurking-place of the French? 
Menendez anchored, and sent a captain with twenty 
men ashore, who presently found a band of Indians, 

1 Barcia, 70. 

2 Mendoza, Relacion: "Nos mostrd Nuestro Senor un misterio en 
el cielo," etc. 

3 Mendoza, Relacion- 



110 MENENDEZ. [1565. 

and gained from them the needed information. He 
stood northward, till, on the afternoon of Tuesday, 
the fourth of September, he descried four ships 
anchored near the mouth of a river. It was the river 
St. John's, and the ships were four of Ribaut's 
squadron. The prey was in sight. The Spaniards 
prepared for battle, and bore down upon the Luther- 
ans; for, with them, all Protestants alike were 
branded with the name of the arch-heretic. Slowly, 
before the faint breeze, the ships glided on their way; 
but while, excited and impatient, the fierce crews 
watched the decreasing space, and when they were 
still three leagues from their prize, the air ceased to 
stir, the sails flapped against the mast, a black cloud 
with thunder rose above the coast, and the warm rain 
of the South descended on the breathless sea. It 
was dark before the wind stirred again and the 
ships resumed their course. At half-past eleven they 
reached the French. The "San Pelayo " slowly 
moved to windward of Ribaut's flag-ship, the " Trin- 
ity, " and anchored very near her. The other ships 
took similar stations. While these preparations were 
making, a work of two hours, the men labored in 
silence, and the French, thronging their gangways, 
looked on in equal silence. "Never, since I came 
into the world, ^' writes the chaplain, "did I know 
such a stillness." 

It was broken at length by a trumpet from the deck 
of the "San Pelayo." A French trumpet answered. 
Then Menendez, "with much courtesy," says his 



1565.] ENCOUNTERS THE FRENCH. Ill 

Spanish eulogist, inquired, " Gentlemen, whence does 
this fleet come?" 

"From France," Avas the reply. 

"What are you doing here?" pursued the Ade~ 
lantado. 

"Bringing soldiers and supplies for a fort which 
the King of France has in this country, and for many 
others which he soon will have." 

" Are you Catholics or Lutherans ? " 

Many voices cried out together, " Lutherans, of the 
new religion. " Then, in their turn, they demanded 
who Menendez was, and whence he came. 

He answered: "I am Pedro Menendez, General of 
the fleet of the King of Spain, Don Philip the Second, 
who have come to this country to hang and behead 
all Lutherans whom I shall find by land or sea, accord- 
ing to instructions from my King, so precise that I 
have power to pardon none ; and these commands I 
shall fulfil, as you will see. At daybreak I shall 
board your ships, and if I find there any Catholic, he 
shall be well treated; but every heretic shall die."^ 

1 "Pedro Menendez os lo pregnnta, General de esta Armada del 
Eei de Espana Don Felipe Seguudo, qui viene a esta Tierra a ahorcar, 
y degollar todos los Luteranos, que hallare en ella, y en el Mar, segun 
la Instruccion, que trae de mi Rei, que es tan precisa, que me priva de 
la facultad de perdonarlos, j la cumplire en todo, como lo vereis luego 
que amanezca, que entrare en vuestros Navios, j si hallare algun 
Catolico, le hare buen tratamiento ; pero el que f uere Herege, morira/* 
Barcia, 75. 
The following is the version, literally given, of Menendez himseK : 
" I answered them : ' Pedro Menendez, who was going by youi 
Majesty's command to this coast and country in order to burn and 
hang the Lutheran Erench'who should be found there, and tliat in the 



112 MEISTENDEZ. ' [1565. 

The French with one voice raised a cry of wrath 
and defiance. 

"If you are a brave man, don't wait till day. 
Come on now, and see what you will get! " 

And they assailed the Adelantado with a shower 
of scoffs and insults. 

Menendez broke into a rage, and gave the order 
to board. The men slipped the cables, and the sullen 
black hulk of the " San Pelayo " drifted down upon 
the "Trinity." The French did not make good their 
defiance. Indeed, they were incapable of resistance, 
Ribaut with his soldiers being ashore at Fort Caroline. 
They cut their cables, left their anchors, made sail, 
and fled. The Spaniards fired, the French replied. 
The other Spanish ships had imitated the movement 
of the "San Pelayo;" "but," writes the chaplain, 
Mendoza, "these devils are such adroit sailors, and 
manoeuvred so well, that we did not catch one of 
them."i Pursuers and pursued ran out to sea, firing 
useless volleys at each other. 

morning I would board their ships to find out whether any of them 
belonged to that people, because, in case they did, I could not do other- 
wise than execute upon them that justice which your Majesty had 
ordained.'" Letter of Menendez to the King, 11 September, 1565. 

1 Mendoza, Relacion. 

The above account is that of Barcia, the admirer and advocate of 
Menendez. A few points have been added from Mendoza, as indicated 
by the citations. One statement of Barcia is omitted, because there 
can be little doubt that it is false. He says, that, when the Spanish 
fleet approached, the French opened a heavy fire on them. Neither 
the fanatical Mendoza, who was present, nor the French writers, 
Laudonniere, Le Moyne, and Challeux, mention this circumstance, 
which, besides, can scarcely be reconciled with the subsequent conduct 



1562.] FOUNDS ST. AUGUSTINE. 113 

In the morning Menendez gave over the chase, 
turned, and, with the " San Pelayo '* alone, ran back 
for the St. John's. But here a welcome was prepared 
for him. He saw bands of armed men drawn up on 
the beach, and the smaller vessels of Ribaut's squad- 
ron, which had crossed the bar several days before, 
anchored behind it to oppose his landing. He would 
not venture an attack, but, steering southward, sailed 
along the coast till he came to an inlet which he 
named San Agustin, the same which Laudonni^re 
had named the River of Dolphins. 

Here he found three of his ships abeady debarking 
their troops, guns, and stores. Two officers, Patiiio 
and Vicente, had taken possession of the dwelling of 
the Indian chief Seloy, a huge barn-like structure, 
strongly framed of entire trunks of trees, and thatched 
with palmetto leaves.^ Around it they were throw- 
ing up intrenchments of fascines and sand, and gangs 
of negroes were toiling at the work. Such was the 
birth of St. Augustine, the oldest town of the United 
States. 

On the eighth, Menendez took formal possession of 
his domain. Cannon were fired, trumpets sounded, 

of either party. Mendoza differs from Barcia also in respect to the 
time of the attack, which he places "at two hours after sunset." In 
other points his story tallies as nearly as could be expected with that 
of Barcia. The same may be said of Challeux and Laudonniere. The 
latter says, that the Spaniards, before attacking, asked after the 
French officers by name, whence he infers that they had received very 
minute information from France. 

^ Compare Hawkins, Second Voyage. He visited this or some similar 
structure, and his journalist minutely describes it. 

8 



114 MENEJSTDEZ. [1565. 

and banners displayed, as he landed in state at the 
head of his officers and nobles. Mendoza, crucifix in 
hand, came to meet him, chanting Te Deum laudamus, 
while the Adelantado and all his company, kneeling, 
kissed the crucifix, and the assembled Indians gazed 
in silent wonder.^ 

Meanwhile the tenants of Fort Caroline were not 
idle. Two or three soldiers, strolling along the beach 
in the afternoon, had first seen the Spanish ships, and 
hastily summoned Ribaut. He came down to the 
mouth of the river, followed by an anxious and excited 
crowd; but, as they strained their eyes through the 
darkness, they could see nothing but the flashes of 
the distant guns. At length the returning light 
showed, far out at sea, the Adelantado in hot chase 
of their flying comrades. Pursuers and pursued were 
soon out of sight. The drums beat to arms. After 
many hours of suspense, the "San Pelayo'* reap- 
peared, hovering about the mouth of the river, then 
bearing away towards the south. More anxious hours 
ensued, when three other sail came in sight, and they 
recognized tliree of their own returning ships. Com- 
munication was opened, a boat's crew landed, and 
they learned from Cosette, one of the French cap- 
tains, that, confiding in the speed of his ship, he had 
followed the Spaniards to St. Augustine, reconnoitred 
their position, and seen them land their negroes and 
intrench themselves. ^ 

1 Mendoza, Relacion. 

2 Laudonni^re in Basanier, 105. Le Moyne differs in a few trifling 
details 



1565.] DECISION OF RIBAUT. 115 

Laudonniere lay sick in bed in his chamber at Fort 
Caroline when Ribaut entered, and with him La 
Grange, Sainte Marie, Ottigny, Yonville, and other 
officers. At the bedside of the displaced command- 
ant, they held their council of war. Three plans 
were proposed : first, to remain where they were and 
fortify themselves; next, to push overland for St. 
Augustine and attack the invaders in their intrench- 
ments; and, finally, to embark and assail them by 
sea. The first plan would leave their ships a prey to 
the Spaniards; and so, too, in all likelihood, would 
the second, besides the uncertainties of an overland 
march through an unknown wilderness. By sea, the 
distance was short and the route explored. By a 
sudden blow they could capture or destroy the Spanish 
ships, and master the troops on shore before reinforce- 
ments could arrive, and before they had time to com- 
plete their defences.^ 

Such were the views of Ribaut, with which, not 
unnaturally, Laudonniere finds fault, and Le Moyne 
echoes the censures of his chief. And yet the plan 
seems as well conceived as it was bold, lacking noth- 
ing but success. The Spaniards, stricken with terror, 
owed their safety to the elements, or, as they say, 

1 Ribaut showed Laudonniere a letter from Coligny, appended to 
which were these words : *' Captaine Jean Ribaut : En f ermant ceste 
lettre i'ay eu certain aduis, comme dom Petro Melandes se part 
d'Espagne, pour aller a la coste de la Nouvelle Frace : Vous regarderez 
de n'endurer qu'il n'entrepreine sur nous, non plus qu'il veut que nous 
n'entreprenions sur eux." Ribaut interpreted this into a command to 
attack the Spaniards. Laudonniere, 106. 



116 MENENDEZ. [1565. 

to the special interposition of the Holj Virgin. 
Menendez was a leader fit to stand with Cortes and 
Pizarro; but he was matched with a man as cool, 
skilful, prompt, and daring as himself. The traces 
that have come down to us indicate in Ribaut one far 
above the common stamp, — "a distinguished man, of 
many high qualities," as even the fault-finding Le 
Moyne calls him ; devout after the best spirit of the 
Reform; and with a human heart under his steel 
breastplate. 

La Grange and other officers took part with Lau- 
donniere, and opposed the plan of an attack by sea ; 
but Ribaut's conviction was unshaken, and the order 
was given. All his own soldiers fit for duty embarked 
in haste, and with them went La Caille, Arlac, and, 
as it seems, Ottigny, with the best of Laudonniere's 
men. Even Le Moyne, though wounded in the fight 
with Outina's warriors, went on board to bear his part 
in the fray, and would have sailed with the rest had 
not Ottigny, seeing his disabled condition, ordered him 
back to the fort. 

On the tenth, the ships, crowded with troops, set 
sail. Ribaut was gone, and with him the bone and 
sinew of the colony. The miserable remnant watched 
his receding sails with dreary foreboding, — a fore- 
boding which seemed but too just, when, on the next 
day, a storm, more violent than the Indians had ever 
known, ^ howled through the forest and lashed the 
ocean into fury. Most forlorn was the plight of these 
1 Laudonni^re, 107, 



1565.] FORT CAROLINE DEFENCELESS. 117 

exiles, left, it might be, the prey of a band of fero- 
cious bigots more terrible than the fiercest hordes of 
the wilderness ; and when night closed on the stormy 
river and the gloomy waste of pines, what dreams of 
terror may not have haunted the helpless women who 
crouched under the hovels of Fort Caroline ! 

The fort was in a ruinous state, with the palisade 
on the water side broken down, and three breaches in 
the rampart. In the driving rain, urged by the sick 
Laudonni^re, the men, bedrenched and disheartened, 
labored as they could to strengthen their defences. 
Their muster-roll shows but a beggarly array. " Now, ' ' 
says Laudonniere, " let them which have bene bold to 
say that I had men ynough left me, so that I had 
meanes to defend my selfe, give eare a little now vnto 
mee, and if they have eyes in their heads, let them 
see what men I had." Of Ribaut's followers left at 
the fort, only nine or ten had weapons, while only 
two or three knew how to use them. Four of them 
were boys, who kept Ribaut's dogs, and another was 
his cook. Besides these, he had left a brewer, an old 
crossbow-maker, two shoemakers, a player on the 
spinet, four valets, a carpenter of threescore, — 
Challeux, no doubt, who has left us the story of his 
woes, — with a crowd of women, children, and eighty- 
six camp-followers.^ To these were added the rem- 
nant of Laudonniere 's men, of whom seventeen could 
bear arms, the rest being sick ov disabled by wounds 
received in the fight with Outina. 

1 The muster-roll is from Laudonniere. Hakluyt's translation is 
mcorrect 



118 MENENDEZ. [1565. 

Laudonni^re divided his force, such, as it was, into 
two watches, over which he placed two officers, Saint 
Cler and La Vigne, gave them lanterns for going the 
rounds, and an hour-glass for setting the time ; while 
he himself, giddy with weakness and fever, was every 
night at the guard-room. 

It was the night of the nineteenth -of September, 
the season of tempests; floods of rain drenched the 
sentries on the rampart, and, as day dawned on the 
dripping barracks and deluged parade, the storm 
increased in violence. What enemy could venture 
out on such a night ? La Vigne, who had the watch, 
took pity on the sentries and on himself, dismissed 
them, and went to his quarters. He little knew what 
human energies, urged by ambition, avarice, bigotry, 
and desperation, will dare and do. 

To return to the Spaniards at St, Augustine. On 
the morning of the eleventh, the crew of one of their 
smaller vessels, lying outside the bar, with Menendez 
himself on board, saw through the twilight of early 
dawn two of Ribaut's ships close upon them. Not a 
breath of air was stirring. There was no escape, and 
the Spaniards fell on their knees in supplication to 
Our Lady of Utrera, explaining to her that the heretics 
were upon them, and begging her to send them a 
little wind. " Forthwith, " says Mendoza, " one would 
have said that Our Lady herself came down upon the 
vessel. "1 A wind sprang up, and the Spaniards 

1 Mendoza, Belacion. Slenendez, too, imputes the escape to divine 
Interposition. " Our Lord permitted by a miracle that we sliould be 
eaved." Letter of Menendez to the King, 15 October, 1565. 



1565.] HIS DESPERATE RESOLUTION 119 

found refuge behind the bar. The returning day 
showed to their astonished eyes all the ships of 
Ribaut, their decks black with men, hovering off the 
entrance of the port; but Heaven had them in its 
charge, and again they experienced its protecting 
care. The breeze sent by Our Lady of Utrera rose 
to a gale, then to a furious tempest; and the grateful 
Adelantado saw through rack and mist the ships of 
his enemy tossed wildly among the raging waters as 
they struggled to gain an offing. With exultation in 
his heart, the skilful seaman read their danger, and 
saw them in his mind's eye dashed to utter wreck 
among the sand-bars and breakers of the lee shore. 

A bold thought seized him. He would march over- 
land with five hundred men, and attack Fort Caroline 
while its defenders were absent. First he ordered a 
mass, and then he called a council. Doubtless it was 
in that great Indian lodge of Seloy, where he had 
made his headquarters; and here, in this dim and 
smoky abode, nobles, officers, and priests gathered at 
his summons. There were fears and doubts and mur- 
murings, but Menendez was desperate; not mth the 
mad desperation that strikes wildly and at random, 
but the still white heat that melts and burns and 
seethes with a steady, unquenchable fierceness. " Com- 
rades," he said, "the time has come to show our 
courage and our zeal. This is God's war, and we 
must not flinch. It is a war with Lutherans, and we 
must wage it with blood and fire." ^ 

1 "A sangre j fuego." Barcia, 78, where the speech is giren at 
length. 



120 MENENDEZ. [1565. 

But his hearers gave no response. They had not 
a million of ducats at stake, and were not ready for 
a cast so desperate. A clamor of remonstrance rose 
from the circle. Many voices, that of Mendoza 
among the rest, urged waiting till their main forces 
should arrive. The excitement spread to the men 
without, and the swarthy, black-bearded crowd broke 
into tumults mounting almost to mutiny, while an 
officer was heard to say that he would not go on such 
a hare-brained errand to be butchered like a beast. 
But nothing could move the Adelantado. His appeals 
or his threats did their work at last; the confusion 
was quelled, and preparation was made for the 
march. 

On the morning of the seventeenth, five hundred 
arquebusiers and pikemen were drawn up before the 
camp. To each was given six pounds of biscuit and 
a canteen filled with wine. Two Indians and a rene- 
gade Frenchman, called Francois Jean, were to guide 
them, and twenty Biscayan axemen moved to the 
front to clear the way. Through floods of driving 
rain, a hoarse voice shouted the word of command, 
and the sullen march began. 

With dismal misgiving, Mendoza watched the last 
files as they vanished in the tempestuous forest. Two 
days of suspense ensued, when a messenger came back 
with a letter from the Adelantado, announcing that 
he had nearly reached the French fort, and that on 
the morrow, September the twentieth, at sunrise, he 
hoped to assault it. " May the Divine Majesty deign 



1565.] MARCHES ON FORT CAROLINE. 121 

to protect us, for He knows that we have need of it, " 
writes the scared chaplain; "the Adelantado's great 
zeal and courage make us hope he will succeed, but, 
for the good of his Majesty's service, he ought to be 
a little less ardent in pursuing his schemes." 

Meanwhile the five hundred pushed their march, 
now toiling across the inundated savannas, waist-deep 
in bulrushes and mud; now filing through the open 
forest to the moan and roar of the storm-racked pines: 
now hacking their way through palmetto thickets; 
and now turning from their path to shun some pool, 
quagmire, cypress swamp, or "hummock," matted 
with impenetrable bushes, brambles, and vines. As 
they bent before the tempest, the water trickling from 
the rusty head-piece crept clammy and cold betwixt 
the armor and the skin; and when they made their 
wretched bivouac, their bed was the spongy soil, and 
the exhaustless clouds their tent.^ 
1 The night of Wednesday, the nineteenth, found 
their vanguard in a deep forest of pines, less than a 
mile from Fort Caroline, and near the low hills which 
extended in its rear, and formed a continuation of St. 
John's Bluff. All around was one great morass. In 
pitchy darkness, knee-deep in weeds and water, half 
starved, worn with toil and lack of sleep, drenched to 
the skin, their provisions spoiled, their ammunition 
wet, and their spirit chilled out of them, they stood 
in shivering groups, cursing the enterprise and the 

^ I have examined the country on the line of march of Menendez. 
In many places it retains its original features 



122 MENENDEZ. [1565. 

author of it. Menendez heard Fernando Perez, an 
ensign, say aloud to his comrades: "This Asturian 
CoHto, who knows no more of war on shore than an 
ass, has betrayed us all. By God, if my advice had 
been followed, he would have had his deserts, the 
day he set out on this cursed journey ! " ^ 

The Adelantado pretended not to hear. 

Two hours before dawn he called his officers about 
him. All night, he said, he had been prajdng to 
God and the Virgin. 

" Senores, what shall we resolve on ? Our ammu- 
nition and provisions are gone. Our case is desper- 
ate. ''^ And he urged a bold rush on the fort. 

But men and officers alike were disheartened and 
disgusted. They listened coldly and sullenly; many 
were for returning at every risk; none were in the 
mood for fight. Menendez put forth all his eloquence, 
till at length the dashed spirits of his followers were 
so far revived that they consented to follow him. 

All fell on their knees in the marsh; then, rising, 
they formed their ranks and began to advance, guided 
by the renegade Frenchman, whose hands, to make 
sure of him, were tied behind his back. Groping 
and stumbling in the dark among trees, roots, and 
underbrush, buffeted by wind and rain, and lashed in 

1 " Como nos trae vendidos este Asturiano Corito, que no sabe de 
Guerra de Tierra, mas que un Jumento ! " etc. Barcia, 79. Corito is a 
nickname given to the inhabitants of Biscay and the Asturias. 

2 " Ved aora, Senores, que determinacion tomaremos, hallandonos 
cansados, perdidos, sin Municiones ni Comida, ni esperan9a de remedi- 
arnos 'i " Barcia, 79. 



1565.] THE FRENCH FORT TAKEN. 123 

the face by the recoiling boughs which they could not 
see, they soon lost their way, fell into confusion, and 
came to a stand, in a mood more savagely desponding 
than before. But soon a glimmer of returning day 
came to their aid, and showed them the dusky sky, 
and the dark columns of the surrounding pines. 
Menendez ordered the men forward on pain of death. 
They obeyed, and presently, emerging from the forest, 
colild dimly discern the ridge of a low hill, behind 
which, the Frenchman told them, was the fort. 
Menendez, with a few officers and men, cautiously 
mounted to the top. Beneath lay Fort Caroline, 
three bow-shots distant; but the rain, the imperfect 
light, and a cluster of intervening houses prevented 
his seeing clearly, and he sent two officers to recon- 
noitre. As they descended, they met a solitary 
Frenchman. They knocked him down with a sheathed 
sword, wounded him, took him prisoner, kept him 
for a time, and then stabbed him as they returned 
towards the top of the hill. Here, clutching their 
vreapons, all the gang stood in fierce expectancy. 

"Santiago! " cried Menendez. "At them! God is 
with us! Victory! "1 And, shouting their hoarse 
war-cries, the Spaniards rushed down the slope like 
starved wolves. 

Not a sentry was on the rampart. La Yigne, the 
officer of the guard, had just gone to his quarters; 
but a trumpeter, who chanced to remain, saw, through 
sheets of rain, the swarm of assailants sweeping down 

1 Barcia. 80. 



124 MENENDEZ. [1565. 

the hill. He blew the alarm, and at the summons a 
few half -naked soldiers ran wildly out of the barracks. 
It was too late. Through the breaches and over the 
ramparts the Spaniards came pouring in, with shouts 
of " Santiago ! Santiago I " 

Sick men leaped from their beds. Women and 
children, blind with fright, darted shrieking from the 
houses. A fierce, gaunt visage, the thrust of a pike, 
or blow of a rusty halberd, — such was the greeting 
that met all alike. Laudonniere snatched his sword 
and target, and ran towards the principal breach, call- 
ing to his soldiers. A rush of Spaniards met himj 
his men were cut down around him ; and he, with a 
soldier named Bartholomew, was forced back into the 
yard of his house. Here stood a tent, and, as the 
pursuers stumbled among the cords, he escaped behind 
Ottigny's house, sprang through the breach in the 
western rampart, and fled for the woods. ^ 

Le Moyne had been one of the guard. Scarcely 
had he thrown himself into a hammock which was 
slung in his room, when a savage shout, and a wild 
uproar of shrieks, outcries, and the clash of weapons, 
brought him to his feet. He rushed by two Spaniards 
in the doorway, ran behind the guard-house, leaped 
through an embrasure into the ditch, and escaped to 
the forest. 2 

Challeux, the carpenter, was going betimes to his 
work, a chisel in his hand. He was old, but pike and 
partisan brandished at his back gave wings to his 

1 Laudonniere, 110; Le Moyne, 24. 2 j^q Moyne, 25. 



1565.] THE FUGITIVES. 125 

flight. In the ecstasy of his terror, he leaped upward, 
clutched the top of the palisade, and threw himself 
over with the agility of a boy. He ran up the hill, 
no one pursuing, and, as he neared the edge of the 
forest, turned and looked back. From the high 
ground where he stood, he could see the butchery, 
the fury of the conquerors, and the agonizing gestures 
of the victims. He turned again in horror, and 
plunged into the woods. ^ As he tore his way through 
the briers and thickets, he met several fugitives 
escaped like himself. Others presently came up, 
haggard and wild, like men broken loose from the 
jaws of death. They gathered together and con- 
sulted. One of them, known as Master Robert, in 
great repute for his knowledge of the Bible, was for 
returning and surrendering to the Spaniards. " They 
are men," he said; "perhaps, when their fury is over, 
they will spare our lives j and, even if they kill us, 
it will only be a few moments' pain. Better so, than 
to starve here in the woods, or be torn to pieces by 
wild beasts." ^ 

The greater part of the naked and despairing com- 
pany assented, but Challeux was of a different mind. 
The old Huguenot quoted Scripture, and called the 
names of prophets and apostles to witness, that, in 
the direst extremity, God would not abandon those 
who rested their faith in Him. Six of the fugitives, 
however, still held to their desperate purpose. Issu- 
ing from the woods, they descended towards the fort, 

1 Challeux in Ternaux-Compans, 272. ^ Ibid., 275. 



126 MENENDEZ. [1565. 

and, as with beating hearts their comrades watched 
the result, a troop of Spaniards rushed out, hewed 
them down with swords and halberds, and dragged 
their bodies to the brink of the river, where the 
victims of the massacre were already flung in heaps. 

Le Moyne, with a soldier named Grandchemin, 
whom he had met in his flight, toiled all day through 
the woods and marshes, in the hope of reaching the 
small vessels anchored behind the bar. Night found 
them in a morass. No vessel could be seen, and the 
soldier, in despair, broke into angry upbraidings 
against his companion, — saying that he would go 
back and give himself up. Le Moyne at first opposed 
him, then yielded. But when they drew near the 
fort, and heard the uproar of savage revelry that 
rose from within, the artist's heart failed him. He 
embraced his companion, and the soldier advanced 
alone. A party of Spaniards came out to meet him. 
He kneeled, and begged for his life. He was answered 
by a death-blow; and the horrified Le Moyne, from 
his hiding-place in the thicket, saw his limbs hacked 
apart, stuck on pikes, and borne off in triumph. ^ 

Meanwhile, Menendez, mustering his followers, had 
offered thanks to God for their victory; and this 
pious butcher wept with emotion as he recounted the 
favors which Heaven had showered upon their enter- 
prise. His admiring historian gives it in proof of his 
humanity, that, after the rage of the assault was 
spent, he ordered that women, infants, and boys under 
1 Le Moyne, 26. 



1565.] FEROCITY OF THE SPANIARDS. 127 

fifteen should thenceforth be spared. Of these, by 
his own account, tliere were about fifty. Writing in 
October to the King, he says that they cause him 
great anxiety, since he fears the anger of God should 
he now put them to death in cold blood, while, on 
the other hand, he is in dread lest the venom of their 
heresy should infect his men. 

A hundred and forty-two persons were slain in and 
around the fort, and their bodies lay heaped together 
on the bank of the river. Nearly opposite was 
anchored a small vessel, called the "Pearl," com- 
manded by Jacques Ribaut, son of the Admiral. The 
ferocious soldiery, maddened with victory and drunk 
with blood, crowded to the water's edge, shouting 
insults to those on board, mangling the corpses, tear- 
ing out their eyes, and throwing them towards the 
vessel from the points of their daggers. ^ Thus did 
the Most Catholic Philip champion the cause of 
Heaven in the New World. 

It was currently believed in France, and, though 
no eye-witness attests it, there is reason to think it 
true, that among those murdered at Fort Caroline 
there were some who died a death of peculiar igno- 
miny. Menendez, it is affirmed, hanged his prisoners 

1 " . . . car, arrachans les yeux des morts, les fichoyent au bout des 
dagues, et puis auec cris, heurlemens & toute gaudisserie, les iettoyeut 
centre nos Francois vers I'eau." ChaUeux (1566), 34. 

" lis arracherent les yeulx qu'ils avoient meurtris, et les aiant ficliez 
a la poincte de leurs dagues faisoient entre eulx a qui plus loing les 
jetteroit." Prevost, Reprinse de la Floride. This is a contemporary 
MS. in the Bibliotheque Nationale, printed by Ternaux-Compans in his 
Eecueil. It will be often cited hereafter. 



128 MENENDEZ. [1565. 

on trees, and placed over them the inscription, " I do 
this, not as to Frenchmen, but as to Lutherans. "^ 

The Spaniards gained a great booty in armor, cloth- 
ing, and provisions. "Nevertheless," says the devout 
Mendoza, after closing his inventory of the plunder, 
"the greatest profit of this victory is the triumph 
which our Lord has granted us, whereby His holy 
Gospel will be introduced into this country, a thing 
so needful for saving so many souls from perdition." 
Again he writes in liis journal, " We owe to God and 
His Mother, more than to human strength, this victory 
over the adversaries of the holy Catholic religion." 

To whatever influence, celestial or other, the 
exploit may best be ascribed, the victors were not yet 
quite content with their success. Two small French 
vessels, besides that of Jacques Ribaut, still lay 
within range of the fort. When the storm had a 
little abated, the cannon were turned on them. One 
of them was sunk, but Ribaut, with the others, 
escaped down the river, at the mouth of which several 
light craft, including that bought from the English, 
had been anchored since the arrival of his father's 
squadron. 

While this was passing, the wretched fugitives 
were flying from the scene of massacre through a 
tempest, of whose persistent violence all the narra- 
tives speak with wonder. Exhausted, starved, half 

1 Prevost in Teruaux-Compans, 357; Lescarbot (1612), I. 127; 
Charlevoix, Nouvelle France (1744), I. 81 ; and nearly all the French 
secondary writers. Barcia denies the story. How deep the indignation 
it kindled in France will appear hereafter. 



1565.] THE FUGITIVES. 129 

naked, — for most of them had escaped in their shirts, 
— they pushed their toilsome way amid the ceaseless 
wrath of the elements. A few sought refuge in 
Indian villages ; but these, it is said, were afterwards 
killed by the Spaniards. The greater number at- 
tempted to reach the vessels at the mouth of the 
river. Among the latter was Le Moyne, who, not- 
withstanding his former failure, was toiling through 
the mazes of tangled forests, when he met a Belgian 
soldier, with the woman described as Laudonniere^s 
maid-servant, who was wounded in the breast; and, 
urging their flight towards the vessels, they fell in 
with other fugitives, including Laudonni^re himself. 
As they struggled through the salt marsh, the rank 
sedge cut their naked limbs, and the tide rose to their 
waists. Presently they descried others, toiling like 
themselves through the matted vegetation, and recog- 
nized Challeux and his companions, also in quest of 
the vessels. The old man still, as he tells us, held 
fast to his chisel, which had done good service in 
cutting poles to aid the party to cross the deep 
creeks that channelled the morass. The united band, 
twenty-six in all, were cheered at length by the sight 
of a moving sail. It was the vessel of Captain 
Mallard, who, informed of the massacre, was stand- 
ing along shore in the hope of picking up some of the 
fugitives. He saw their signals, and sent boats to 
their rescue; but such was their exhaustion, that, 
had not the sailors, wading to their armpits among 
the rushes, borne them out on their shoulders, few 



130 MENENDEZ. [1565. 

could have escaped. Laudonni^re was so feeble that 
nothing but the support of a soldier, who held him 
upright in his arms, had saved him from drowning 
in the marsh. 

On gaining the friendly decks, the fugitives coun- 
selled together. One and all, they sickened for the 
sight of France. 

After waiting a few days, and saving a few more 
stragglers from the marsh, they prepared to sail. 
Young Ribaut, though ignorant of his father's fate, 
assented with something more than willingness; 
indeed, his behavior throughout had been stamped 
with weakness and poltroonery. On the twenty-fifth 
of September they put to sea in two vessels; and, 
after a voyage the privations of which were fatal to 
many of them, they arrived, one party at Rochelle, 
the other at Swansea, in Wales. 



CHAPTER Vm. 

1565. 
MASSACRE OF THE HERETICS. 

Menendez returns to St. Augustine. — Tidings of the French. 

— Ribaut shipwrecked. — The March of Menendez. — He 

DISCOVERS the FrENCH, INTERVIEWS. — HOPES OF MeRCY. 

— Surrender of the French. — Massacre. — Return to St. 
Augustine. — Tidings of Ribaut's Party. — His Interview 
WITH Menendez. — Deceived and betrayed. — Murdered. — 
Another Massacre. — French Accounts. — Schemes of the 
Spaniards. — Survivors of the Carnage. 

In suspense and fear, hourly looking seaward for 
tlie dreaded fleet of Jean Ribaut, the chaplain Mendoza 
and his brother priests held watch and ward at St. 
Augustine in the Adelantado's absence. Besides 
the celestial guardians whom they ceased not to 
invoke, they had as protectors Bartholomew Menen- 
dez, the brother of the Adelantado, and about a hun- 
dred soldiers. Day and night they toiled to throw 
up earthworks and strengthen their position. 

A week elapsed, when they saw a man running 
towards them, shouting as he ran. 

Mendoza went to meet him. 

"Victory! victory!" gasped the breathless mes- 
senger. " The French fort is ours I " And he flung 
his arms about the chaplain's neck.^ 

1 Mendoza, Relacion. 



132 MASSACRE OF THE HERETICS. [1565. 

" To-day, " writes tlie priest in his journal, " Mon- 
day, the twenty-fourth, came our good general him- 
self, with fifty soldiers, very tired, like all those who 
were with him. As soon as they told me he was 
coming, I ran to my lodging, took a new cassock, the 
best I had, put on my surplice, and went out to meet 
him with a crucifix in my hand j whereupon he, like 
a gentleman and a good Christian, kneeled down 
with all his followers, and gave the Lord a thousand 
thanks for the great favors he had received from 
Him.'' 

In solemn procession, with four priests in front 
chanting Te Deum, the victors entered St. Augustine 
in triumph. 

On the twenty-eighth, when the weary Adelantado 
was taking his siesta under the sylvan roof of Seloy, 
a troop of Indians came in with news that quickly 
roused him from his slumbers. They had seen a 
French vessel wrecked on the coast towards the 
south. Those who escaped from her were four or six 
leagues off, on the banks of a river or arm of the sea, 
which they could not cross. ^ 

Menendez instantly sent forty or fifty men in boats 
to reconnoitre. Next, he called the chaplain, — for 
he would fain have him at his elbow to countenance 
the deeds he meditated, — and, with him twelve 
soldiers and two Indian guides, embarked in another 
boat. They rowed along the channel between Anas- 

^ Mendoza, Relacion ; SolTs in Barcia, 85 ; Letter of Menendez to 
the King, 18 October, 1565. 



1565.] WRECK OF THE FRENCPI. 133 

tasia Island and the main shore; then they landed, 
struck across the island on foot, traversed plains and 
marshes, reached the sea towards night, and searched 
along shore till ten o'clock to find their comrades 
who had gone before. At length, with mutual 
joy, the two parties met, and bivouacked together 
on the sands. Not far distant they could see 
lights. These were the camp-fires of the shipwrecked 
French. 

To relate with precision the fortunes of these un- 
happy men is impossible ; for henceforward the French 
narratives are no longer the narratives of eye-wit- 
nesses. 

It has been seen how, when on the point of assail- 
ing the Spaniards at St. Augustine, Jean Ribaut 
was thwarted by a gale, which they hailed as a divine 
interposition. The gale rose to a tempest of strange 
fury. Within a few days, all the French ships were 
cast on shore, between Matanzas Inlet and Cape 
Canaveral. According to a letter of Menendez, many 
of those on board were lost; but others affirm that all 
escaped but a captain, La Grange, an officer of high 
merit, who was washed from a floating mast.^ One 
of the ships was wrecked at a point farther northward 
than the rest, and it was her company whose camp- 
fires were seen by the Spaniards at their bivouac on 
the sands of Anastasia Island. They were endeavor- 
ing to reach Fort Caroline, of the fate of which they 
Imew nothing, while Ribaut with the remainder was 

1 Challeux (1566), 46- 



134 MASSACRE OF THE HERETICS. [1565. 

farther southward, struggling through the wilder- 
ness towards the same goal. What befell the latter 
will appear hereafter. Of the fate of the former 
party there is no French record. What we know of 
it is due to three Spanish eye-witnesses, Mendoza, 
Doctor Soils de las Meras, and Menendez himself. 
Solis was a priest, and brother-in-law to Menendez. 
Like Mendoza, he minutely describes what he saw, 
and, like him, was a red-hot zealot, lavishing applause 
on the darkest deeds of his chief. But the principal 
witness, though not the most minute or most trust- 
worthy, is Menendez, in his long despatches sent 
from Florida to the King, and now first brought to 
light from the archives of Seville, — a cool record of 
unsurpassed atrocities, inscribed on the back with the 
royal indorsement, "Say to him that he has done 
well." 

When the Adelantado saw the French fires in the 
distance, he lay close in his bivouac, and sent two 
soldiers to reconnoitre. At two o'clock in the morn- 
ing they came back, and reported that it was impos- 
sible to get at the enemy, since they were on the 
farther side of an arm of the sea (Matanzas Inlet). 
Menendez, however, gave orders to march, and before 
daybreak reached the hither bank, where he hid his 
men in a bushy hollow. Thence, as it grew light, 
they could discern the enemy, many of whom were 
searching along the sands and shallows for shell-fish, 
for they were famishing. A thought struck Menen- 
dez, an inspiration, says Mendoza, of the Holy 



1565.] INTERVIEWS WITH MENENDEZ. 135 

Spirit.' He put on the clothes of a sailor, entered a 
boat which had been brought to the spot, and rowed 
towards the shipwrecked men, the better to learn 
their condition. A Frenchman swam out to meet 
him. Menendez demanded what men they were. 

"Followers of Ribaut, Viceroy of the King of 
France," answered the swimmer. 

" Are you Catholics or Lutherans ? '^ 

"All Lutherans." 

A brief dialogue ensued, during which the Adelan- 
tado declared his name and character, and the French- 
man gave an account of the designs of Ribaut, and of 
the disaster that had thwarted them. He then swam 
back to his companions, but soon returned, and asked 
safe conduct for his captain and four other gentlemen, 
who wished to hold conference with the Spanish 
general. Menendez gave his word for their safety, 
and, returning to the shore, sent his boat to bring 
them over. On their landing, he met them very 
courteously. His followers were kept at a distance, 
so disposed behind hills and among bushes as to give 
an exaggerated idea of their force, — a precaution the 
more needful, as they were only about sixty in num- 
ber, while the French, says Solis, were above two 
hundred. Menendez, however, declares that they 
did not exceed a hundred and forty. The French 
officer told him the story of their shipwreck, and 
begged him to lend them a boat to aid them in cross- 

1 " Nuestro buen General, alumbrado por el Espiritu Santo, dixo/' etc. 



136 MASSACRE OF THE HERETICS. [1565- 

ing the rivers which lay between them and a fort of 
their King, whither they were making their way. 

Then came again the ominous question, — 

" Are you Catholics or Lutherans ? " 

"We are Lutherans." 

"Gentlemen," pursued Menendez, "your fort is 
taken, and all in it are put to the sword." And, in 
proof of his declaration, he caused articles plundered 
from Fort Caroline to be shown to the unhappy peti- 
tioners. He then left them, and went to breakfast 
with his officers, first ordering food to be placed 
before them. Having breakfasted, he returned to 
them. 

"Are you convinced now," he asked, "that what I 
have told you is true ? " 

The French captain assented, and implored him to 
lend them ships in which to return home. Menendez 
answered that he would do so willingly if they were 
Catholics, and if he had ships to spare, but he had 
none. The supplicants then expressed the hope that 
at least they and their followers would be allowed to 
remain with the Spaniards till ships could be sent to 
their relief, since there was peace between the two 
nations, whose kings were friends and brothers. 

"All Catholics," retorted the Spaniard, "I will 
befriend; but as you are of the New Sect, I hold you 
as enemies, and wage deadly war against you; and 
this I will do with all cruelty [crueldad'] in this 
country, where I command as Viceroy and Captain- 
General for my King. I am here to plant the Holy 



1565.] INTERVIEWS WITH MENENDEZ. 187 

Gospel, that the Indians may be enhghtened and 
come to the knowledge of the Holy Catholic faith of 
oiu' Lord Jesus Christ, as the Roman Church teaches 
it. If you will give up your arms and banners, and 
place yourselves at my mercy, you may do so, and I 
will act towards you as God shall give me grace. Do 
as you will, for other than this you can have neither 
truce nor friendship with me."^ 

Such were the Adelantado's words, as reported by 
a bystander, his admiring brother-in-law; and that 
they contain an implied assurance of mercy has been 
held, not only by Protestants, but by Catholics and 
Spaniards. 2 The report of Menendez himself is more 
brief, and sufficiently equivocal : — 

"I answered, that they could give up their arms 
and place themselves under my mercy, — that I 
should do with them what our Lord should order; 
and from that I did not depart, nor would I, unless 
God our Lord should otherwise inspire." ^ 

1 " . . . mas, que por ser ellos de la Nueva Secta, los tenia por 
Enemigos, e tenia co^i ellos Guerra, k sangre, e fuego ; e que esta la 
haria con toda crueldad a los que hallase en aquella Mar, h Tierra, 
donde era Virrei, e Capitan General por su Rei ; e que iba k plantar el 
Santo Evangelio en aquella Tierra, para que fuesen alumbrados los 
Indios, e vinieseu al conocimiento de la Santa Fe Catolica de Jesu 
Christo N. S. como lo dice, e canta la Iglesia Romana ; e que si ellos 
quieren entregarle las Vanderas, e las Armas, h ponerse en su Miseri- 
cordia, lo pueden hacer, para que el haga de ellos lo que Dios le diere 
de gracia, 6 que hogan lo que quisieren, que otras Treguas, m Amis- 
tades no avian de hacer con el." SoKs, 86. 

^ Salazar, Crisis del Ensayo, 23 ; Padre Felipe Briet, Anales. 

8 " Respondiles, que las armas me podia rendir y ponerse debaxo de 
mi gracia para que Yo hiciese dellos aquello que Nuestro Senor me 



138 MASSACRE OF THE HERETICS. [1565. 

One of the Frenchmen recrossed to consult with 
his companions. In two hours he returned, and 
offered fifty thousand ducats to secure their lives; 
but Menendez, says his brother-in-law, would give 
no pledges. On the other hand, expressions in his 
own despatches point to the inference that a virtual 
pledge was given, at least to certain individuals. 

The starving French saw no resource but to yield 
themselves to his mercy. The boat was again sent 
across the river. It returned laden with banners, 
arquebuses, swords, targets, and helmets. The 
Adelantado ordered twenty soldiers to bring over the 
prisoners, ten at a time. He then took the French 
officers aside behind a ridge of sand, two gunshots 
from the bank. Here, with courtesy on his lips and 
murder at his heart, he said : — • 

" Gentlemen, I have but few men, and you are so 
many that, if you were free, it would be easy for you 
to take your satisfaction on us for the people we 
killed when we took your fort. Therefore it is 
necessary that you should go to my camp, four 
leagues from this place, with your hands tied." ^ 

ordenase, y de aqui no me sacd, ni sacara si Dios Nuestro Sen or no 
espiara en mi otra cosa. Y ansi se f ue' con esta respuesta, y se vinieron 
y me entregaron las armas, y hiceles amarrar las manos atras y 
pasarlos a cuchillo. . . . Pareciome que castigarlos desta mauera se 
servia Dios Nuestro Senor, y V. Mag**, para que adelante nos dexen 
mas libres esta mala seta para plantar el evangelio en estas partes." — 
Carta de Pedro Menendez a su Magestad, Fuerte de S'* Agustin, 15 
Octubre, 1565. 

1 " Senores, yo tengo poca Gente, e no mui conocida, h Vosotros sois 
muchos e andando sueltos, facil cosa os seria satisfaceros de Nosotros, 



1565.] BUTCHERY. 139 

Accordingly, as each party landed, they were led 
out of sight behind the sand-hill, and their hands tied 
behind their backs with the match-cords of the arque- 
buses, though not before each had been supplied with 
food. The whole day passed before all were brought 
together, bound and helpless, under the eye of the 
inexorable Adelantado. But now Mendoza inter- 
posed. "I was a priest," he says, "and had the 
bowels of a man." He asked that if there were 
Christians — that is to say, Catholics — among the 
prisoners, they should be set apart. Twelve Breton 
sailors professed themselves to be such; and these, 
together with four carpenters and calkers, "of 
whom," writes Menendez, "I was in great need," 
were put on board the boat and sent to St. Augustine. 
The rest were ordered to march thither by land. 

The Adelantado walked in advance till he came to 
a lonely spot, not far distant, deep among the bush- 
covered hills. Here he stopped, and with his cane 
drew a line in the sand. The sun was set when the 
captive Huguenots, with their escort, reached the 
fatal goal thus marked out. And now let the curtain 
drop; for here, in the name of Heaven, the hounds 
of hell were turned loose, and the ^savage soldiery, 
like wolves in a sheepfold, rioted in slaughter. Of 
all that wretched company, not one was left alive. 

"I had their hands tied behind their backs," writes 

por la Gente que os degoUamos quaudo ganamos el Fuerte ; h ansi es 
menester, que con las manos atras, amarradas, marcheis de aqui a quatro 
Leguas, donde yo tengo mi Eeal." Solis, 87. 



140 MASSACRE OF THE HERETICS. [1565. 

the cliief criminal, "and themselves put to the knife. 
It appeared to me that, by thus chastising them, God 
our Lord and your Majesty were served; whereby in 
future this evil sect will leave us more free to plant 
the Gospel in these parts." ^ 

Again Menendez returned triumphant to St. 
Augustine, and behind him marched his band of 
butchers, steeped in blood to the elbows, but still 
unsated. Great as had been his success, he still had 
cause for anxiety* There was ill news of his fleet. 
Some of the ships were lost, others scattered, or 
lagging tardily on their way. Of his whole force, 
less than a half had reached Florida, and of these a 
large part were still at Fort Caroline. Ribaut could 
not be far off; and, whatever might be the condition 
of his shipwrecked company, their numbers would 
make them formidable, unless taken at advantage. 
Urged by fear and fortified by fanaticism, Menendez 
had well begun his work of slaughter; but rest for 
him there was none, — a darker deed was behind. 

On the tenth of October, Indians came with the 
tidings that, at the spot where the first party of the 
shipwrecked French had been found, there was now 
another party still larger. This murder-loving race 
looked with great respect on Menendez for his whole- 
sale butchery of the night before, — an exploit rarely 
equalled in their own annals of massacre. On his 
part, he doubted not that Ribaut was at hand. 
Marching with a hundred and fifty men, he crossed 
1 For the original, see ante, note 3, p. 137. 



1565.] RIBAUT MEETS MENENDEZ. 141 

the bush-covered sands of Anastasia Island, followed 
the strand between the thickets and the sea, reached 
the inlet at midnight, and again, like a savage, 
ambushed himself on the bank. Day broke, and he 
could plainly see the French on the farther side. 
They had made a raft, which lay in the water ready 
for crossing. Menendez and his men showed them- 
selves, when, forthwith, the French displayed their 
banners, sounded drums and trumpets, and set their 
sick and starving ranks in array of battle. But the 
Adelantado, regardless of this warlike show, ordered 
his men to seat themselves at breakfast, while he 
with three officers walked unconcernedly along the 
shore. His coolness had its effect. The French 
blew a trumpet of parley, and showed a white flag. 
The Spaniards replied. A Frenchman came out upon 
the raft, and, shouting across the water, asked that 
a Spanish envoy should be sent over. 

"You have a raft," was the reply; "come your- 
selves." 

An Indian canoe lay under the bank on the Spanish 
side. A French sailor swam to it, paddled back 
unmolested, and presently returned, bringing with 
him La Caille, Ribaut's sergeant-major. He told 
Menendez that the French were three hundred and 
fifty in all, and were on their way to Fort Caroline ; 
and, like the officers of the former party, he begged 
for boats to aid them in crossing the river. 

"My brother," said Menendez, "go and tell your 
general, that, if he wishes to speak with me, he may 



142 MASSACRE OF THE HERETICS. [1565. 

come with four or six companions, and that I pledge 
my word he shall go back safe." ^ 

La Caille returned; and Ribaut, with eight gentle- 
men, soon came over in the canoe. Menendez met 
them courteously, caused wine and preserved fruits 
to be placed before them, — he had come well pro- 
visioned on his errand of blood, — and next led Ribaut 
to the reeking Golgotha, where, in heaps upon the 
sand, lay the corpses of his slaughtered followers. 
Ribaut was prepared for the spectacle, — La Caille 
had already seen it, — but he would not believe that 
Fort Caroline was taken till a part of the plunder 
was shown him. Then, mastering his despair, he 
turned to the conqueror. "What has befallen us," 
he said, "may one day befall you." And, urging 
that the kings of France and Spain were brothers and 
close friends, he begged, in the name of that friend- 
ship, that the Spaniard would aid him in conveying 
his followers home. Menendez gave him the same 
equivocal answer that he had given the former party, 
and Ribaut returned to consult with his officers. 
After three hours of absence, he came back in the 
canoe, and told the Adelantado that some of his 
people were ready to surrender at discretion, but that 
many refused. 

"They can do as they please," was the reply. 

In behalf of those who surrendered, Ribaut offered 
a ransom of a hundred thousand ducats. 

"It would much grieve me," said Menendez, "not 
to accept it; for I have great need of it." 

1 Soli's. 88 



1565.] AI^OTHER BUTCHERY. 143 

Ribaut was much encouraged. Menendez could 
scarcely forego such a prize, and he thought, says the 
Spanish narrator, that the lives of his followers would 
now be safe. He asked to be allowed the night 
for deliberation, and at sunset recrossed the river. 
In the morning he reappeared among the Span- 
iards, and reported that two hundred of his men 
had retreated from the spot, but that the remaining 
hundred and fifty would surrender. ^ At the same 
time he gave into the hands of Menendez the royal 
standard and other flags, with his sword, dagger, 
helmet, buckler, and the official seal given him by 
Coligny. Menendez directed an officer to enter the 
boat and bring over the French by tens. He next 
led Ribaut among the bushes behind the neighboring 
sand-hill, and ordered his hands to be bound fast. 
Then the scales fell from the prisoner's eyes. Face 
to face his fate rose up before him. He saw his fol- 
lowers and himself entrapped, — the dupes of words 
artfully framed to lure them to their ruin. The day 
wore on; and, as band after band of prisoners was 
brought over, they were led behind the sand-hill out 
of sight from the farther shore, and bound like their 
general. At length the transit was finished. With 
bloodshot eyes and weapons bared, the Spaniards 
closed around their victims. 

" Are you Catholics or Lutherans ? and is there any 
one among you who will go to confession? " 

Ribaut answered, "I and all here are of the 
Reformed Faith." 

1 Soils, 89. Menendez speaks only of seventy. 



144 MASSACRE OF THE HERETICS. [1565. 

And he recited the Psalm, '^Domine, memento 
meV^^ 

"We are of earth," he continued, "and to earth 
we must return; twenty years more or less can matter 
little ; " 2 and, turning to the Adelantado, he bade him 
do his will. 

The stony-hearted bigot gave the signal j and those 
who will may paint to themselves the horrors of the 
scene. 

A few, however, were spared. "I saved," writes 
Menendez, "the lives of two young gentlemen of 
about eighteen years of age, as well as of three others, 
the fifer, the drummer, and the trumpeter; and I 
caused Juan Ribao [Ribaut] with all the rest to be 
put to the knife, judging this to be necessary for the 
service of God our Lord and of your Majesty. And 
I consider it great good fortune that he [Juan Ribao] 
should be dead, for the King of France could effect 
more with him and five hundred ducats than with 
other men and five thousand ; and he would do more 
in one year than another in ten, for he was the most 
experienced sailor and naval commander known, and 
of great skill in this navigation of the Indies and the 
coast of Florida. He was, besides, greatly liked in 
England, in which kingdom his reputation was such 
that he was appointed Captain-General of all the 

^ "L'auteur a voulu dire apparemmeut, Memento Domine David. 
D'ailleurs Ribaut la recita sans doute en Franpais, a la mani^re dee 
Protestans." — Hist. Gen. des Voyages, XIV. 446. 

2 " Dijo ; que de Tierra eran, y que en Tierra se avian de bolver ; h 
veinte Anos mas, 6 menos, todo era una Cueuta." Solis, 89. 



1565.] FRENCH ACCOUNTS. 145 

English fleet against the French Catholics in the war 
between England and France some years ago." ^ 

Such is the sum of the Spanish accounts, — the 
self-damning testimony of the author and abettors of 
the crime ; a picture of lurid and awful coloring ; and 
yet there is reason to believe that the truth was 
darker still. Among those who were spared was one 
Christophe le Breton, who was carried to Spain, 
escaped to France, and told his story to Challeux. 
Among those struck down in the butchery was a 
sailor of Dieppe, stunned and left for dead under a 
heap of corpses. In the night he revived, contrived 
to draw his knife, cut the cords that bound his hands, 
and made his way to an Indian village. The Indians, 
not without reluctance, abandoned him to the 
Spaniards, who sold him as a slave ; but, on his way 
in fetters to Portugal, the ship was taken by the 
Huguenots, the sailor set free, and his story pub- 
lished in the narrative of Le Moyne. When the 
massacre was known in France, the friends and rela- 

1 "Salve la vida k dos mozos Caballeros de hasta 18 afios, y a otros 
tres, que eran Pifauo, Atambor y Trompeta, y a Juan Rivao con todos 
los demas hice pasar h cuchillo, entendiendo que ansi conveuia al ser- 
vicio de Dios Nuestro Senor, y de V. Mag. y tengo por muy principal 
suerte que este sea muerto, porque mas hiciera el Rey de Francia con 
el con 500 ducados, que con otros con 5000, y mas hiciera el en un ano 
que otro en diez, porque era el mas pratico marinero y cosario que se 
sabia, y muy diestro en esta Navigacion de Indias y costa de la Florida, 
y tan amigo en Inglaterra que tenia en aquel Reyno tanta reputacion 
que fue nombrado por Capitan General de toda el Armada Inglesa 
contra los Catolicos de Francia estos anos pasados habiendo guerra 
entre Inglaterra y Francia." — Carta de Pedro Menendez a su Magestad, 
Fiierte de >S" Agustin, lb de Octubre, 1565. 

10 



146 MASSACRE OF THE HERETICS. [1565. 

tives of the victims sent to the King, Charles the 
Ninth, a vehement petition for redress; and their 
memorial recounts many incidents of the tragedy. 
From these three sources is to be drawn the French 
version of the story. The following is its substance. 
Famished and desperate, the followers of Ribaut 
were toiling northward to seek refuge at Fort Caro- 
line, when they found the Spaniards in their path. 
Some were filled with dismay; others, in their misery, 
almost hailed them as deliverers. La Caille, the ser- 
geant-major, crossed the river. Menendez met him 
with a face of friendship, and protested that he would 
spare the lives of the shipwrecked men, sealing the 
promise with an oath, a kiss, and many signs of the 
cross. He even gave it in writing, under seal. Still, 
there were many among the French who would not 
place themselves in his power. The most credulous 
crossed the river in a boat. As each successive party 
landed, their hands were bound fast at their backs; 
and thus, except a few who were set apart, they were 
all driven towards the fort, like cattle to the shambles, 
with curses and scurrilous abuse. Then, at sound 
of drums and trumpets, the Spaniards fell upon them, 
striking them down with swords, pikes, and halberds.^ 

1 Here the French accounts differ. Le Moyne says that only a 
drummer and a fifer were spared ; Challeux, that carpenters, artillery- 
men, and others who might be of use, were also saved, — thirty in all. 
Le Moyne speaks of the massacre as taking place, not at St. Augustine, 
but at Fort Caroline, a blunder into which, under the circumstances, 
he might naturally fall, 

"... ainsi comme on feroit vn trouppeau de bestes lequel on 



1565.] FRENCH ACCOUNTS. 147 

Ribaut vainly called on the Adelantado to remember 
his oath. By his order, a soldier plunged a dagger 
into the French commander's heart; and Ottigny, 
who stood near, met a similar fate. Ribaut's beard 
was cut off, and portions of it sent in a letter to 
'Philip the Second. His head was hewn into four 
parts, one of which was displayed on the point of a 
lance at each corner of Fort St. Augustine. Great 
fires were kindled, and the bodies of the murdered 
burned to ashes. ^ 

Such is the sum of the French accounts. The 
charge of breach of faith contained in them was 
believed by Catholics as well as Protestants ; and it 
was as a defence against this charge that the narra- 
tive of the Adelantado's brother-in-law was pub- 
lished. That Ribaut, a man whose good sense and 
courage were both reputed high, should have sub- 

chasseroit k la boucherie, lors a son de phiffres, tabourins et trompes, 
la hardiesse de ces furieux Espaguols se desbende sur ces poures 
Frangois lesquels estoyent liez et garottez : la c'estoit a qui donneroit 
le plus beau cousp de picque, de hallebarde et d'espee/' etc. Challeux, 
from Christophe le Breton. 

1 " Une Eequete au Roy,faite en forme de Complainte par les Femmes 
veufves, petits Enfans orphelins, et autres leurs Amis, Parents et Alliez de 
ceux qui ont tie crueUement envahis par les Espagnols en la France 
Antharctique dite la Floride." This is the petition to Charles the 
Ninth. There are Latin translations in De Bry and Chauveton. 
Christophe le Breton told Challeux the same story of the outrages on 
Bibaut's body. The Requite au Roy affirms that the total number of 
French killed by the Spaniards in Florida in 1565 was more than nine 
hundred. This is no doubt a gross exaggeration. 

Prevost, a contemporary, Lescarbot, and others, affirm that Eibaut'a 
body was flayed, and the skin sent to Spain as a trophy. This is denied 
by Barcia. 



148 MASSACRE OF THE HERETICS. [1565. 

mitted himself and Ms men to Menendez without 
positive assurance of safety, is scarcely credible ; nor 
is it lack of charity to believe that a bigot so savage 
in heart and so perverted in conscience would act on 
the maxim, current among certain casuists of the 
day, that faith ought not to be kept with heretics. 

It was night when the Adelantado again entered 
St. Augustine. There were some who blamed his 
cruelty ; but many applauded. " Even if the French 
had been Catholics," — such was their language, — 
"he would have done right, for, with the little pro- 
vision we have, they would all have starved ; besides, 
there were so many of them that they would have cut 
our throats." 

And now Menendez again addressed himself to the 
despatch, already begun, in which he recounts to 
the King his labors and his triumphs, a deliberate 
and business-like document, mingling narratives of 
butchery with recommendations for promotions, com- 
missary details, and petitions for supplies, — enlarging, 
too, on the vast schemes of encroachment which his 
successful generalship had brought to naught. The 
French, he says, had planned a military and naval 
depot at Los Martires, whence they would make a 
descent upon Havana, and another at the Bay of 
Ponce de Leon, whence they could threaten Vera 
Cruz. They had long been encroaching on Spanish 
rights at Newfoundland, from which a great arm of 
the sea — doubtless meaning the St. Lawrence — 
would give them access to the Moluccas and other 



1565.] FUGITIVE FRENCH. 149 

parts of the East Indies. He adds, in a later 
despatch, that by this passage they may reach the 
mines of Zacatecas and St. Martin, as well as every 
part of the South Sea. And, as already mentioned, 
he urges immediate occupation of Chesapeake Bay, 
which, by its supposed water communication with 
the St. Lawrence, would enable Spain to vindicate 
her rights, control the fisheries of Newfoundland, 
and thwart her rival in vast designs of commer- 
cial and territorial aggrandizement. Thus did 
France and Spain dispute the possession of North 
America long before England became a party to the 
strife.^ 

Some twenty days after Menendez returned to St. 
Augustine, the Indians, enamoured of carnage, and 
exulting to see their invaders mowed down, came to 
tell him that on the coast southward, near Cape 
Canaveral, a great number of Frenchmen were 
intrenching themselves. They were those of Ribaut's 
party who had refused to surrender. Having retreated 
to the spot where their ships had been cast ashore, 

1 Amid all the confusion of his geographical statements, it seems 
clear that Menendez believed that Chesapeake Bay communicated with 
the St. Lawrence, and thence with Newfoundland on the one hand, and 
the South Sea on the other. The notion that the St. Lawrence would 
give access to China survived till the time of La Salle, or more than a 
century. In the map of Gastaldi, made, according to Kohl, about 
1550, a belt of water connecting the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic is 
laid down. So also in the map of Ruscelli, 1561, and that of Martines, 
1578, as well as in that of Michael Lok, 1582. In Munster's map, 1545, 
the St. LaAvrence is rudely indicated, with the words, " Per hoc fretu 
iter ad Molucas." 



150 MASSACRE OF THE HERETICSo [1565. 

they were trying to build a vessel from the fragments 
of the wrecks. 

In all haste Menendez despatched messengers to 
Fort Caroline, — named by him San Mateo, — order- 
ing a reinforcement of a hundred and fifty men. In 
a few days they came. He added some of his own 
soldiers, and, with a united force of two hundred and 
fifty, set out, as he tells us, on the second of Novem- 
ber. A part of his force went by sea, while the rest 
pushed southward along the shore with such merci- 
less energy that several men dropped dead with wad- 
ing night and day through the loose sands. When, 
from behind their frail defences, the French saw the 
Spanish pikes and partisans glittering into view, they 
fled in a panic, and took refuge among the hills. 
Menendez sent a trumpet to summon them, pledging 
his honor for their safety. The commander and 
several others told the messenger that they would 
sooner be eaten by the savages than trust themselves 
to Spaniards ; and, escaping, they fled to the Indian 
towns. The rest surrendered; and Menendez kept 
his word. The comparative number of his own men 
made his prisoners no longer dangerous. They were 
led back to St. Augustine, where, as the Spanish 
writer affirms, they were well treated. Those of 
good birth sat at the Adelantado's table, eating the 
bread of a homicide crimsoned with the slaughter of 
their comrades. The priests essayed theii pious 
efforts, and, under the gloomy menace of the Inqui- 
sition, some of the heretics renounced their errors. 



1565.] FUGITIVE FRENCH. 151 

The fate of the captives may be gathered from the 
indorsement, in the handwriting of the King, on one 
of the despatches of Menendez. 

"Say to him," writes Pliilip the Second, "that, as 
to those he has killed, he has done well; and as to 
those he has saved, they shall be sent to the 
galleys." ^ 

1 There is an indorsement to this effect on the despatch of Menendez 
of 12 December, 1565. A marginal note by the copyist states that it 
is in the well-known handwriting of Philip the Second. Compare the 
King's letter to Menendez, in Barcia, 116. This letter seems to have 
been written by a secretary in pursuance of a direction contained in 
the indorsement, — " Esto sera bien escribir luego a Pero Menendez," 
— and highly commends him for the " justice he has done upon the 
Lutheran corsairs." 



CHAPTER IX. 

1565-1567. 
CHAELES IX. AND PHILIP II 

State of International Relations. — Complaints of Philip 
THE Second. — Reply of Charles the Ninth. — News op 
the Massacre. — The French Court demands Redress. — 
The Spanish Court refuses it. 

The state of international relations in the sixteenth 
century is hardly conceivable at this day. The Puri- 
tans of England and the Huguenots of France 
regarded Spain as their natural enemy, and on the 
high seas and in the British Channel they joined 
hands with godless freebooters to rifle her ships, kill 
her sailors, or throv/ them alive into the sea. Spain 
on her side seized English Protestant sailors who 
ventured into her ports, and burned them as heretics, 
or consigned them to a living death in the dungeons 
of the Inquisition. Yet in the latter half of the 
century these mutual outrages went on for years 
while the nations professed to be at peace. There 
was complaint, protest, and occasional menace, but 
no redress, and no declaration of war. 

Contemporary writers of good authority have said 
that, when the news of the massacres in Florida 
reached the court of France, Charles the Ninth and 



1566.] INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. 153 

Catherine de Medicis submitted to the insult in 
silence ; but documents lately brought to light show 
that a demand for redress was made, though not 
insisted on. A cry of horror and execration had 
risen from the Huguenots, and many even of the 
Catholics had echoed it; yet the perpetrators of the 
crime, and not its victims, were the first to make 
complaint. Philip the Second resented the expedi- 
tions of Ribaut and Laudonni^re as an invasion of 
the American domains of Spain, and ordered D^Alava, 
his ambassador at Paris, to denounce them to the 
French King. Charles, thus put on the defensive, 
replied, that the country in question belonged to 
France, having been discovered by Frenchmen a 
hundred years before, and named by them Terre des 
Bretons.^ This alludes to the tradition that the 
Bretons and Basques visited the northern coasts of 
America before the voyage of Columbus. In several 
maps of the sixteenth century the region of New 
England and the neighboring states and provinces is 
set down as Terre des Bretons, or Tierra de los 
Bretones,^ and this name was assumed by Charles to 
extend to the Gulf of Mexico, as the name of Florida 
was assumed by the Spaniards to extend to the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence, and even beyond it.^ Philip spurned 

1 Note de Charles IX. en reponse a celle de I'Amhassadeur d'Espagne, 
in Gaffarel, Floride, 413. 

2 See, for example, the map of Ruscelli, 1561. 

^ "H y a plus de cent ans a este ledict pais appelle la terre des 
Bretons en laquelle est comprius I'endroit que les Espaignols s'attri- 
buent, lequel ils ont baptize du nom qu'ils ont voulu [Florida]." — 



154 CHAELES IX. AND PHILIP H. [1566. 

the claim, asserted tlie Spanish right to all Florida, 
and asked whether or not the followers of Ribaut and 
Laudonni^re had gone thither by authority of their 
King. The Queen Mother, Catherine de Medicis, 
replied in her son's behalf, that certain Frenchmen 
had gone to a country called Terre aux Bretons, dis- 
covered by French subjects, and that in so doing they 
had been warned not to encroach on lands belonging 
to the King of Spain. And she added, with some 
spirit, that the Kings of France were not in the habit 
of permitting themselves to be threatened.^ 

Philip persisted in his attitude of injured inno- 
cence; and Forquevaulx, French ambassador at 
Madrid, reported that, as a reward for murdering 
French subjects, Menendez was to receive the title 
of Marquis of Florida. A demand soon followed 
from Philip, that Admiral Coligny should be pun- 
ished for planting a French colony on Spanish 
ground, and thus causing the disasters that ensued. 
It was at this time that the first full account of the 
massacres reached the French court, and the Queen 
Mother, greatly moved, complained to the Spanish 
ambassador, saying that she could not persuade her- 
seH that his master would refuse reparation. The 

Forquevaulx au Roy, 16 Mars, 1566. Forquevaulx was French am- 
bassador at Madrid. 

" Nous ne pretendons rien que conserver une terre qui a este des- 
couverte et possedee par des Francois, comme le uom de la terre aux 
Bretons le tesmoigue encore." — Catherine de Medicis a Forquevaulx^ 
30 Dec, 1585. 

^ Catherine de Medicis h Forquevaulx, 20 Jan., 1566. 



1566.] SPAIN REFUSES REDRESS. 155 

ambassador replied by again throwing the blame on 
Coligny and the Huguenots j and Catherine de 
Medicis returned that, Huguenots or not, the King 
of Spain had no right to take upon himself the 
punishment of French subjects. Forquevaulx was 
instructed to demand redress at Madrid ; but Philip 
only answered that he was very sorry for what had 
happened, ^ and again insisted that Coligny should be 
punished as the true cause of it. 

Forquevaulx, an old soldier, remonstrated with 
firmness, declared that no deeds so execrable had 
ever been committed within his memory, and de- 
manded that Menendez and his followers should be 
chastised as they deserved. The King said that he 
was sorry that the sufferers chanced to be French- 
men, but, as they were pirates also, they ought to be 
treated as such. The ambassador replied, that they 
were no pirates, since they bore the commission of 
the Admiral of France, who in naval affairs repre- 
sented the King; and Philip closed the conversation 
by saying that he would speak on the subject with 
the Duke of Alva. This was equivalent to refusal, 
for the views of the Duke were well known; "and 
so, Madame," writes the ambassador to the Queen 
Mother, " there is no hope that any reparation will be 
made for the aforesaid massacre. " ^ 

On this, Charles wrote to Forquevaulx: "It is my 

^ " Disant avoir santi grand desplaisir du faict advenu; voilb, tout, 
Sir©." — Forquevaulx au Roy, 9 Avril, 1566. 
2 Forquevaulx li Catherine de Medicis^ 9 Avril, 1566. 



156 CHARLES IX. AND PPIILIP n. [1567. 

will that you renew your complaint, and insist 
urgently that, for the sake of the union and friend- 
ship between the two crowns, reparation be made for 
the wrong done me and the cruelties committed on 
my subjects, to which I cannot submit without too 
great loss of reputation. " ^ And, jointly with his 
mother, he ordered the ambassador to demand once 
more that Menendez and his men should be punished, 
adding, that he trusts that Philip will grant justice 
to the King of France, his brother-in-law and friend, 
rather than pardon a gang of brigands. "On this 
demand," concludes Charles, "the Sieur de Forque- 
vaulx will not fail to insist, be the answer what it 
may, in order that the King of Spain shall understand 
that his Majesty of France has no less spirit than his 
predecessors to repel an insult. "^ The ambassador 
fulfilled his commission, and Philip replied by refer- 
ring him to the Duke of Alva. " I have no hope, " 
reports Forquevaulx, "that the Duke will give any 
satisfaction as to the massacre, for it was he who 
advised it from the first. "^ A year passed, and then 
he reported that Menendez had returned from Florida, 
that the King had given him a warm welcome, and 
that his fame as a naval commander was such that he 
was regarded as a sort of Neptune.^ 

In spite of their brave words, Charles and the 

1 Charles IX. a Forquevaulx, 12 Mai, 1566. 

2 Memoire envoye par Charles IX. et Catherine de Medicis a Forque- 
vaulx, \2 Mai, 1566. 

3 Forquevaulx au Roy, Aout (?), 1566. 

* Forquevaulx au Roy, Juillet, 1567. Ibid., 2 Aout, 1567. 



1567.] CHARLES IX. AND PHILIP H. 157 

Queen Mother tamely resigned themselves to the 
affront, for they would not quarrel with Spain. To 
have done so would have been to throw themselves 
into the arms of the Protestant party, adopt the prin- 
ciple of toleration, and save France from, the disgrace 
and blight of her later years. France was not so 
fortunate o The enterprise of Florida was a national 
enterprise, undertaken at the national charge, with 
the royal commission, and under the royal standard ; 
and it had been crushed in time of peace by a power 
professing the closest friendship. Yet Huguenot 
influence had prompted and Huguenot hands executed 
it. That influence had now ebbed low; Coligny's 
power had waned? Charles, after long vacillation, 
was leaning more and more towards the Guises and 
the Catholics, and fast subsiding into the deathly 
embrace of Spain, for whom, at last, on the bloody 
eve of St. Bartholomew, he was to become the assas- 
sin of his own best subjects. ^ 

In vain the relatives of the slain petitioned him for 
redress; and had the honor of the nation rested in 
the keeping of its King, the blood of hundreds of 
murdered Frenchmen would have cried from the 
ground in vain. But it was not to be so. Injured 
humanity found an avenger, and outraged France a 
champion. Her chivalrous annals may be searched 
in vain for a deed of more romantic daring than the 
vengeance of Dominique de Gourgues. 

1 Lettres et Papier s d'Estat du Sieur de Forquevaulx, Amhassadeur da 
Roy tres-Chrestien Charles Neufviesme, printed by Gaffarel in his His- 
toire de la Floride Frangaise. 



CHAPTER X. 

1567-1583, 

DOMINIQUE DE GOURGUES. 

His Early Life. — His Hatred oe Spaniards. — Eesolves on 
Vengeance. — His Band op Adventurers. — His Plan 
DIVULGED. — His Speech. — Enthusiasm of his Followers. 

— Condition of the Spaniards. — Arrival of Gourgues. — 
Interviews with Indians. — The Spaniards attacked. — 
The First Fort carried. — Another Victory. — The Final 
Triumph. — The Prisoners hanged. — The Forts destroyed. 

— Sequel of Gourgues's Career. — Menendez. — His Death. 

There was a gentleman of Mont-de-Marsan, 
Dominique de Gourgues, a soldier of ancient birth 
and high renown. It is not certain that he was a 
Huguenot. The Spanish annalist calls him a "ter- 
rible heretic;"^ but the French Jesuit, Charlevoix, 
anxious that the faithful should share the glory of 
his exploits, affirms that, like his ancestors before 
him, he was a good Catholic. ^ If so, his faith sat 
lightly upon him ; and. Catholic or heretic, he hated 
the Spaniards with a mortal hate. Fighting in the 
Italian wars, — for from boyhood he was wedded to 

*■ Barcia, 133, 

2 Charlevoix, Nouvelle France, I. 95. Compare Guerin, Navigateurs 
Frangais, 200. One of De Gourgues's descendants, the Vicomte A. de 
Gourgues, has recently (1861) written an article to prove the Catholicity 
of his ancestor. 



1567.] VICISSITUDES. 159 

tlie sword, — lie had been taken prisoner by them 
near Siena, where he had signalized himself by a fiery 
and determined bravery. With brutal insult, they 
chained him to the oar as a galley slave. ^ After he 
had long endured this ignominy, the Turks captured 
the vessel and carried her to Constantinople. It was 
but a change of tyrants,- but, soon after, while she 
was on a cruise, Gourgues still at the oar, a galley' of 
the knights of Malta hove in sight, bore down on her, 
recaptured her, and set the prisoner free. For several 
years after, his restless spirit found employment in 
voyages to Africa, Brazil, and regions yet more 
remote. His naval repute rose high, but his grudge 
against the Spaniards still rankled within him; and 
when, returned from his rovings, he learned the 
tidings from Florida, his hot Gascon blood boiled 
with fury. 

The honor of France had been foully stained, and 
there was none to wipe away the shame. The fac- 
tion-ridden King was dumb. The nobles who sur- 
rounded him were in the Spanish interest. ^ Then, 
since they proved recreant, he, Dominique de 
Gourgues, a simple gentleman, would take upon him 
to avenge the wrong, and restore the dimmed lustre 
of the French name.^ He sold his inheritance, bor- 

* Lescarbot, Nouvelle France, I. 141 ; Barcia, 133. ^ 
2 It was at this time that the Due de Montpensier was heard to saj, 

that^ if his heart was opened, the name of Philip would be found 
written in it. Ranke, Civil Wars, I. 337. 

* '* El, encendido en el Celo de la Honra de su Patria, avia det^r- 
minado gastar su Hacienda en aquella Empresa, de que no ^^s^e^-^a 



160 DOMINIQUE DE GOURGUES. [1567. 

rowed money from his brother, who held a high post 
in Guienne,^ and equipped three small vessels, navi- 
gable by sail or oar. On board he placed a hundred 
arquebusiers and eighty sailors, prepared to fight on 
land, if need were.'^ The noted Blaise de Montluc, 
then lieutenant for the King in Guienne, gave him a 
commission to make war on the negroes of Benin, — 
that is, to kidnap them as slaves, an adventure then 
held honorable.^ 

His true design was locked within his own breast. 
He mustered his followers, — not a few of whom 
were of rank equal to his own, — feasted them, and, 
on the twenty-second of August, 1567, sailed from 
the mouth of the Charente. Off Cape Finisterre, so 
violent a storm buffeted his ships that his men clam- 
mas fruto, que yengarse, para eterni^ar su Pama." Barcia, 134. This 
is the statement of an enemy. A contemporary manuscript preserved 
in the Gourgues family makes a similar statement. 

1 " . . . era Presidente de la Generalidad de Guiena." Barcia, 133. 
Compare Mezeray, Hist, of France, 701. There is repeated mention of 
him in the Memoirs of Montluc. 

2 De Gourgues MS. Barcia says two hundred ; Basanier and Les- 
carbot, a hundred and fifty. 

^ De Gourgues MS. This is a copy, made in 1831, by the Vicomte 
de Gourgues, from the original preserved in the Gourgues family, and 
written either by Dominique de Gourgues himself, or by some person 
to whom he was intimately kno-wn. It is, v/ith but trifling variations, 
identical with the two narratives entitled La Reprinse de la Floride, 
preserved in the Biblioth^que Imperiale. One of these bears the namo 
of Robert Prevost, but whether as author or copyist is not clear. M. 
Gaillard, who carefully compared them, has written a notice of their 
contents, with remarks. The Prevost narrative has been printed 
entire by Ternaux-Compans in his collection. I am indebted to Mr. 
Bancroft for the use of the Vicomte de Gourgues's copy, and Gaillard's 
notice« 



1567.] HIS SPEECH. 161 

ored to return ; but Gourgues's spirit prevailed. He 
bore away for Africa, and, landing at the Rio del 
Oro, refreshed and cheered them as he best might. 
Thence he sailed to Cape Blanco, where the jealous 
Portuguese, who had a fort in the neighborhood, set 
upon him three negro chiefs. Gourgues beat them 
off, and remained master of the harbor ; whence, how- 
ever, he soon voyaged onward to Cape Verd, and, 
steering westward, made for the West Indies. Here, 
advancing from island to island, he came to Hispa- 
niola, where, between the fury of a hurricane at sea 
and the jealousy of the Spaniards on shore, he was in 
no small jeopardy, — "the Spaniards," exclaims the 
indignant journalist, "who think that this New 
World was made for nobody but them, and that no 
other living man has a right to move or breathe 
here I " Gourgues landed, however, obtained the 
water of which he was in need, and steered for Cape 
San Antonio, at the western end of Cuba. There he 
gathered his followers about him, and addressed them 
with his fiery Gascon eloquence. For the first time, 
he told them his true purpose, inveighed against 
Spanish cruelty, and painted, with angry rhetoric, 
the butcheries of Fort Caroline and St. Augustine. 

"What disgrace," he cried, "if such an insult 
should pass unpunished! What glory to us if we 
avenge it ! To this I have devoted my fortune. I 
relied on you. I thought you jealous enough of your 
country's glory to sacrifice life itself in a cause like 
this. Was I deceived? I will show you the way; 

11 



162 DOMINIQUE DE GOURGUES. [1568, 

I will be always at your head ; I will bear the brunt 
of the danger. Will you refuse to follow me ? *' ^ 

At first his startled hearers listened in silence ; but 
soon the passions of that adventurous age rose respon- 
sive to his words. The combustible French nature 
burst into flame. The enthusiasm of the soldiers rose 
to such a pitch that Gourgues had much ado to 
make them wait till the moon was full before tempt- 
ing the perils of the Bahama Channel. His time 
came at length. The moon rode high above the 
lonely sea, and, silvered in its light, the ships of the 
avenger held their course. 

Meanwhile, it had fared ill with the Spaniards in 
Florida; the good- will of the Indians had vanished. 
The French had been obtrusive and vexatious guests ; 
but their worst trespasses had been mercy and ten- 
derness compared to the daily outrage of the 
new-comers. Friendship had changed to aversion, 
aversion to hatred, and hatred to open war. The 
forest paths were beset; stragglers were cut off; and 
woe to the Spaniard who should venture after night- 
fall beyond call of the outposts. ^ 

Menendez, however, had strengthened himself in 
his new conquest. St. Augustine was well fortified; 
Fort Caroline, now Fort San Mateo, was repaired; 

1 The De Gourgues MS., with Prevost and Gaillard, give the speech 
in substance. Charlevoix professes to give a part in the vi^ords of the 
speaker : " J'ai compte sur vous, je vous ai cru assez jaloux de la gloire 
de votre Patrie, pour lui sacrifier jusqu'a votre vie en une occasion do 
cette importance ; me suis-je trompe 1 " etc. 

2 Barcia, 100-130. 



1568.] MEETING WITH INDIANS. 163 

and two redoubts, or small forts, were thrown up to 
guard the mouth of the River of May, — one of them 
near the present lighthouse at Mayport, and the 
other across the river on Fort George Island. 
Thence, on an afternoon in early spring, the Spaniards 
saw three sail steering northward. They suspected 
no enemy, and their batteries boomed a salute. 
Gourgues's ships replied, then stood out to sea, and 
were lost in the shades of evening. 

They kept their course all night, and, as day 
broke, anchored at the mouth of a river, the St. 
Mary's, or the Santilla, by their reckoning fifteen 
leagues north of the River of May. Here, as it grew 
light, Gourgues saw the borders of the sea thronged 
with savages, armed and plumed for war. They, 
too, had mistaken the strangers for Spaniards, and 
mustered to meet their tyrants at the landing. But 
in the French ships there was a trumpeter who had 
been long in Florida, and knew the Indians well. 
He went towards them in a boat, with many gestures 
of friendship ; and no sooner was he recognized, than 
the naked crowd, with yelps of delight, danced for 
joy along the sands. Why had he ever left them ? 
they asked; and why had he not returned before? 
The intercourse thus auspiciously begun was actively 
kept up. Gourgues told the principal chief, — who 
was no other than Satouriona, once the ally of the 
French, — that he had come to visit them, make 
friendship with them, and bring them presents. At 
this last announcement, so grateful to Indian ears, 



164 DOMINIQUE DE GOURGUES. [1568. 

the dancing was renewed with double zeal. The 
next morning was named for a grand council, and 
Satouriona sent runners to summon all Indians within 
call ; while Gourgues, for safety, brought his vessels 
within the mouth of the river. 

Morning came, and the woods were thronged with 
warriors. Gourgues and his soldiers landed with 
martial pomp. In token of mutual confidence, the 
French laid aside their arquebuses, and the Indians 
their bows and arrows. Satouriona came to meet the 
strangers, and seated their commander at his side, 
on a wooden stool, " draped and cushioned with the 
gray Spanish moss. Two old Indians cleared the 
spot of brambles, weeds, and grass; and, when their 
task was finished, the tribesmen took their places, 
ring within ring, standing, sitting, and crouching on 
the ground, — a dusky concourse, plumed in festal 
array, waiting with grave visages and intent eyes. 
Gourgues was about to speak, when the chief, who, 
says the narrator, had not learned French manners, 
anticipated him, and broke into a vehement harangue, 
denouncing the cruelty of the Spaniards. 

Since the French fort was taken, he said, the 
Indians had not had one happy day. The Spaniards 
drove them from their cabins, stole their corn, rav- 
ished their wives and daughters, and killed their 
children ; and all this they had endured because they 
loved the French. There was a French boy who had 
escaped from the massacre at the fort; they had 
found him in the woods j and though the Spaniards, 



1568.] EAGERNESS OF THE INDIANS. 165 

who wished to Idll him, demanded that they should 
give him up, they had kept him for his friends. 

"Look I" pursued the chief, "here he is I'* — and 
he brought forward a youth of sixteen, named Pierre 
Debrd, who became at once of the greatest service to 
the French, his knowledge of the Indian language 
making him an excellent interpreter.^ 

Delighted as he was at this outburst against the 
Spaniards, Gourgues did not see fit to display the 
full extent of his satisfaction. He thanked the 
Indians for their good-will, exhorted them to con- 
tinue in it, and pronounced an ill-merited eulogy on 
the greatness and goodness of his King. As for the 
Spaniards, he said, their day of reckoning was at 
hand ; and, if the Indians had been abused for their 
love of the French, the French would be their 
avengers. Here Satouriona forgot his dignity, and 
leaped up for joy. 

"What!" he cried, "will you fight the Span- 
iards? "2 

" I came here, " replied Gourgues, " only to recon- 
noitre the country and make friends with you, and 
then go back to bring more soldiers; but, when I 
hear what you are suffering from them, I wish to fall 
upon them this very day, and rescue you from their 
tyranny." All around the ring a clamor of applaud- 
ing voices greeted his words. 

1 De Gourgues MS.; Gaillard MS.; Basanier, 116; Barcia, 134. 

2 "... si les rois et leurs sujects avoient este maltraictez en haine 
des Pran9ois que aussi seroient-ils vengez par les Fran^ois-mesmes. 
Comment 1 dist Satirona, tressaillant d'aise, vouldriez-vous bien faire 
l,i. guerre aux Espaignol* ''J' — De Gourgues MS. 



166 DOMINIQUE DE GOURGUES. [1568. 

"But you will do your part," pursued the Frencli- 
man; "you will not leave us all the honor." 

"We will go," replied Satouriona, "and die with 
you, if need be." 

"Then, if we fight, we ought to fight at once. 
How soon can you have your warriors ready to 
inarch ? " 

The chief asked three days for preparation. 
Gourgues cautioned him to secrecy, lest the Span- 
iards should take alarm. 

"Never fear," was the answer; "we hate them 
more than you do." ^ 

Then came a distribution of gifts, — knives, 
hatchets, mirrors, bells, and beads, — while the war- 
rior rabble crowded to receive them, with eager 
faces and outstretched arms. The distribution over, 
Gourgues asked the chiefs if there was any other 
matter in which he could serve them. On this, point- 
ing to his shirt, they expressed a peculiar admiration 
for that garment, and begged each to have one, to be 
worn at feasts and councils during life, and in their 

i 

1 The above is a condensation from the original narrative, of the 
style of which the following may serve as an example : " Le cappitaine 
Gourgue qui avoit trouve ce qii'il chercheoit, les loue et remercie 
grandement, et pour battre le fer pendant qu'il estoit chault leur dist : 
Voiremais si nous voullons leur faire la guerre, il fauldroit que ce fust 
incontinant. Dans combien de temps pourriez-vous bieu avoir assemble 
voz gens prets a marcher ? Dans trois jours dist Satirona, nous et noa 
subjects pourrons nous rendre icy, pour partir avec vous. Et ce pen- 
dant (dist le cappitaine Gourgue), vous donnerez bon ordre que le tout 
soit tenu secrect : affin que les Espaignols n'en puissent sentir le vent. 
Ne vous soulciez, dirent les rois, nous leur voullons plus de mal que 
vous," etc., etc, 



1568.] EAGERNESS OF THE INDIANS. 167 

graves after death. Gourgiies complied; and his 
grateful confederates were soon stalking about him, 
fluttering in the spoils of his wardrobe. 

To learn the strength and position of the Spaniards, 
Gourgues now sent out three scouts ; and with them 
went Olotoraca, Satouriona's nephew, a young brave 
of great renown. 

The chief, eager to prove his good faith, gave as 
hostages his only surviving son and his favorite wife. 
They were sent on board the ships, while the Indians 
dispersed to their encampments, with leaping, stamp- 
ing, dancing, and whoops of jubilation. 

The day appointed came, and with it the savage 
army, hideous in war-paint, and plumed for battle. 
The woods rang back their songs and yells, as with 
frantic gesticulation they brandished their war-clubs 
and vaunted their deeds of prowess. Then they 
drank the black drink, endowed with mystic virtues 
against hardship and danger; and Gourgues himself 
pretended to swallow the nauseous decoction. ^ 

These ceremonies consumed the day. It was even- 



1 The " black drink " was, till a recent period, in use among the 
Creeks. It is a strong decoction of the plant popularly called cassina, 
or uupon tea. Major Swan, deputy agent for the Creeks in 1791, thus 
describes their belief in its properties : " that it purifies them from aU. 
sin^ and leaves them in a state of perfect innocence ; that it inspires 
them with an invincible prowess in war ; and that it is the only solid 
cement of friendship, benevolence, and hospitality." Swan's account 
of their mode of drinking and ejecting it corresponds perfectly with 
Le Moyne's picture in De Bry. See the United States government 
publication, History, Condition, and Prospects of Indian Tribes, V- 
266. 



168 DOMINIQUE DE GOURGUES. [1568. 

ing before the allies filed off into their forests, and 
took the path for the Spanish forts. The French, on 
their part, were to repair by sea to the rendezvous. 
Gourgues mustered and addressed his men. It was 
needless: their ardor was at fever height. They 
broke in upon his words, and demanded to be led at 
once against the enemy. Frangois Bourdelais, with 
twenty sailors, was left with the ships, and Gourgues 
affectionately bade him farewell. 

"If I am slain in this most just enterprise," he 
said, "I leave all in your charge, and pray you to 
carry back my soldiers to France." 

There were many embracings among the excited 
Frenchmen, — many sympathetic tears from those 
who were to stay behind, — many messages left with 
them for wives, children, friends, and mistresses; 
and then this valiant band pushed their boats from 
shore. ^ It was a hare-brained venture, for, as young 
Debr^ had assured them, the Spaniards on the River 
of May were four hundred in number, secure behind 
their ramparts. ^ 

Hour after hour the sailors pulled at the oar. 
They glided slowly by the sombre shores in the shim- 
mering moonlight, to the sound of the murmuring 

1 " Cecy attendrist fort le cueur de tous, et mesmement des mariniers 
qui demeuroient pour la garde des navires, lesquels ne peurent contenir 
leurs larmes, et fut ceste departie plains de compassion d'ouir tant 
d'adieux d'une part et d'aultre, et tant de charges et recommendations 
de la part de ceulx qui s'en alloient a leurs parents et amis, et a leurs 
femmes et alliez au cas qu'ils ne retournassent." Prevost, 337. 

2 De Gourgues MS. ; Basanier, 117 ; Charlevoix, I. 99. 



1568.] ADVANCES TO THE ATTACK. 169 

surf and the moaning pine-trees. In the gray of the 
morning, they came to the mouth of a river, probably 
the Nassau; and here a northeast wind set in with 
a violence that almost wrecked their boats. Their 
Indian allies were waiting on the bank, but for a 
while the gale delayed their crossing. The bolder 
French would lose no time, rowed through the toss- 
ing waves, and, landing safely, left their boats, and 
pushed into the forest. Gourgues took the lead, in 
breastplate and back-piece. At his side marched the 
young chief Olotoraca, with a French pike in his 
hand; and the files of arquebuse-men and armed 
sailors followed close behind. They plunged through 
swamps, hewed their way through brambly thickets 
and the matted intricacies of the forests, and, at five 
in the afternoon, almost spent with fatigue and 
hunger, came to a river or inlet of the sea,^ not far 
from the first Spanish fort. Here they found three 
hundred Indians waiting for them. 

Tired as he was, Gourgues would not rest. He 
wished to attack at daybreak, and with ten arque- 
busiers and his Indian guide he set out to recon- 
noitre. Night closed upon him^ It was a vain task 
to struggle on, in pitchy darkness, among trunks of 
trees, fallen logs, tangled vines, and swollen streams. 
Gourgues returned, anxious and gloomy. An Indian 
chief approached him, read through the darkness his 
perturbed look, and offered to lead him by a better 

1 Talbot Inlet 1 Compare Sparks, American Biography, 2d Ser., 
VII. 128. 



170 DOMINIQUE DE GOURGUES. [1568. 

path along the margin of the sea. Gourgues joyfully 
assented, and ordered all his men to march. The 
Indians, better skilled in wood-craft, chose the 
shorter course through the forest. 

The French forgot their weariness, and pressed on 
with speed. At dawn they and their allies met on 
the bank of a stream, probably Sister Creek, beyond 
which, and very near, was the fort. But the tide 
was in, and they tried in vain to cross. Greatly 
vexed, — for he had hoped to take the enemy 
asleep, — Gourgues withdrew his soldiers into the 
forest, where they were no sooner ensconced than a 
drenching rain fell, and they had much ado to keep 
their gun-matches burning. The light grew fasto 
Gourgues plainly saw the fort, the defences of which 
seemed slight and unfinished. He even saw the 
Spaniards at work within. A feverish interval 
elapsed, till at length the tide was out, — so far, at 
least, that the stream was fordable. A little higher 
up, a clump of trees lay between it and the fort. 
Behind this friendly screen the passage was begun. 
Each man tied his powder-flask to his steel cap, held 
his arquebuse above his head with one hand, and 
grasped his sword with the other. The channel was 
a bed of oysters. The sharp shells cut their feet as 
they waded through. But the farther bank was 
gained. They emerged from the water, drenched, 
lacerated, and bleeding, but with unabated mettle. 
Gourgues set them in array under cover of the trees. 
They stood with kindling eyes, and hearts throbbing, 



1568.] THE SPANIARDS ATTACKED. 171 

but not mth fear. Gourgiies pointed to the Spanish 
fort, seen by glimpses through the boughs. " Look ! " 
he said, "there are the robbers who have stolen this 
tand from our King; there are the murderers who 
have butchered our countrymen !" ^ With voices 
eager, fierce, but half suppressed, they demanded to 
be led on. 

Gourgues gave the word. Cazenove, his lieuten- 
ant, with thirty men, pushed for the fort gate; he 
himself, with the main body, for the glacis. It was 
near noon; the Spaniards had just finished their 
meal, and, says the narrative, " were still picking their 
teeth," when a startled cry rang in their ears: — 

" To arms ! to arms I The French are coming ! the 
French are coming! " 

It was the voice of a cannoneer who had that 
moment mounted the rampart and seen the assailants 
advancing in unbroken ranks, with heads lowered and 
weapons at the charge. He fired his cannon among 
them. He even had time to load and fire again, 
when the light-limbed Olotoraca bounded forward, 
ran up the glacis, leaped the unfinished ditch, and 
drove his pike through the Spaniard from breast to 
back. Gourgues was now on the glacis, when he 
heard Cazenove shouting from the gate that the 
Spaniards were escaping on that side. He turned 
and led his men thither at a run. In a moment, the 

^ '* . . . et, leur monstrant le fort qu'ils pouvoient entreveoir k 
travers les arbres, voila (dist il) les voUeurs qui ont voile ceste terre k 
nostre Roy, voila les meurtriers qui ont massacre nos fran9ois.'' — De 
Gourgues MS, Compare Charlevoix, I. 100. 



172 DOMINIQUE DE GOURGUES^ [1568. 

fugitives, sixty in all, were enclosed between his 
party and that of his lieutenant. The Indians, too, 
came leaping to the spot. Not a Spaniard escaped. 
All were cut down but a few, reserved by Gourgues 
for a more inglorious end.^ 

Meanwhile the Spaniards in the other fort, on the 
opposite shore, cannonaded the victors without ceas- 
ing. The latter turned four captured guns against 
them. One of Gourgues 's boats, a very large one, 
had been brought along-shore, and, entering it with 
eighty soldiers, he pushed for the farther bank. 
With loud yells, the Indians leaped into the river, 
which is here about three fourths of a mile wide. 
Each held his bow and arrows aloft in one hand, 
while he swam with the other. A panic seized the 
garrison as they saw the savage multitude. They 
broke out of the fort and fled into the forest. But 
the French had already landed; and, throwing them- 
selves in the path of the fugitives, they greeted them 
with a storm of lead. The terrified wretches recoiled ; 
but flight was vain. The Indian whoop rang behind 
them, and war-clubs and arrows finished the work. 
Gourgues 's utmost efforts saved but fifteen, not out 
of mercy, but from a refinement of vengeance.^ 

The next day was Quasimodo Sunday, or the Sun- 

1 Barcia's Spanish account agrees with the De Gourgues MS., except 
in a statement of the former that the Indians had formed an ambuscade 
into which the Spaniards fell, 

2 It must be admitted that there is a strong savor of romance in the 
French narrative. The admissions of the Spanish annalist prove, liow- 
ever, that it has a broad basis of truth. 



1568.] THE SECOND SPANISH FORT. 178 

day after Easter. Gourgues and his men remained 
quiet, maldng ladders for the assault on Fort San 
Mateo. Meanwhile the whole forest was in arms, 
and, far and near, the Indians were wild with excite- 
ment. They beset the Spanish fort till not a soldier 
could venture out. The garrison, aware of their 
danger, though ignorant of its extent, devised an 
expedient to gain information; and one of them, 
painted and feathered like an Indian, ventured within 
Gourgues 's outposts. He himself chanced to be at 
hand, and by his side walked his constant attendant, 
Olotoraca. The keen-eyed young savage pierced the 
cheat at a glance. The spy was seized, and, being 
examined, declared that there were two hundred and 
sixty Spaniards in San Mateo, and that they believed 
the French to be two thousand, and were so fright- 
ened that they did not know what they were doing. 

Gourgues, well pleased, pushed on to attack them. 
On Monday evening he sent forward the Indians to 
ambush themselves on both sides of the fort. In the 
morning he followed with his Frenchmen^ and, as 
the glittering ranks came into view, defiling between 
the forest and the river, the Spaniards opened on 
them with culverins from a projecting bastion. The 
French took cover in the woods with which the hills 
below and behind the fort were densely overgrown. 
Here, himself unseen, Gourgues could survey the 
whole extent of the defences, and he presently descried 
a strong party of Spaniards issuing from their works, 
crossing the ditch, and advancing to reconnoitre. 



1T4 DOMINIQUE DE GOURGUES. [1568. 

On this, he sent Cazenove, with a detachment, to 
station himself at a point well hidden by trees on the 
flank of the Spaniards, who, with strange infatuation, 
continued their advance. Gourgues and his followers 
pushed on through the thickets to meet them. As 
the Spaniards reached the edge of the open ground, 
a deadly fire blazed in their faces, and, before the 
smoke cleared, the French were among them, sword 
in hand. The survivors would have fled; but Caze- 
nove 's detachment fell upon their rear, and all were 
killed or taken. 

When their comrades in the fort beheld their fate, 
a panic seized them. Conscious of their own deeds, 
perpetrated on this very spot, they could hope no 
mercy, and their terror multiplied immeasurably the 
numbers of their enemy. They abandoned the fort 
in a body, and fled into the woods most remote from 
the French. But here a deadlier foe awaited them; 
for a host of Indians leaped up from ambush. Then 
rose those hideous war-cries which have curdled the 
boldest blood and blanched the manliest cheek. The 
forest warriors, with savage ecstasy, wreaked their 
long arrears of vengeance, while the French hastened 
to the spot, and lent their swords to the slaughter. 
A few prisoners were saved alive; the rest were slain; 
and thus did the Spaniards make bloody atonement 
for the butchery of Fort Caroline.^ 

1 This is the French account. The Spaniard Barcia, with greater 
probability, says that some of the Spaniards escaped to the hills. 
With this exception, the French and Spanish accounts agree. Barcia 
Rscribes the defeat of his countrymen to an exaggerated idea of the 



1568.] FATE OF SPANISH PRISONERS. 175 

But Gourgues's vengeance was not yet appeased. 
Hard by the fort, the trees were pointed out to him 
on which Menendez had hanged his captives, and 
placed over them the inscription, " Not as to French- 
men, but as to Lutherans." 

Gourgues ordered the Spanish prisoners to be led 
thither. 

"Did you think," he sternly said, as the pallid 
wretches stood ranged before him, "that so vile a 
treachery, so detestable a cruelty, against a King so 
potent and a nation so generous, would go unpun- 
ished ? I, one of the humblest gentlemen among my 
King's subjects, have charged myself with avenging 
it. Even if the Most Christian and the Most Catholic 
Kings had been enemies, at deadly war, such perfidy 
and extreme cruelty would still have been unpardon- 
able. Now that they are friends and close allies, 
there is no name vile enough to brand your deeds, 
no punishment sharp enough to requite them. But 
though you cannot suffer as you deserve, you shall 
suffer all that an enemy can honorably inflict, that 
your example may teach others to observe the peace 
and alliance which you have so perfidiously violated." ^ 

enemy's force. The governor, Gonzalo de Villaroel, was, he says, 
among those who escaped. I have purposely preserved in the narrative 
the somewhat exalted tone of the original French account. 

^ " . . . Mais encores que vous ne puissiez endurer la peine que 
yous avez meritee, il est besoin que vous enduriez celle que I'ennemy 
vous peult donner honnestement : affin que par vostre exemple les 
autres appreignent a garder la paix et alliance que si meschamment et 
malheureusement vous avez violee. Cela dit, ils sont branchez aux 
mesmes arbres ou iJs avoient penduz les rran9ois." — De Gourgues MS. 



176 DOMINIQUE DE GOURGUES. [1568. 

They were hanged where the French had hung 
before them; and over them was nailed the inscrip- 
tion, burned with a hot iron on a tablet of pine, " Not 
as to Spaniards, but as to Traitors, Robbers, and 
Murderers."^ 

Gourgues's mission was fulfilled. To occupy the 
country had never been his intention ; nor was it pos- 
sible, for the Spaniards were still in force at St. 
Augustine. His was a whirlwind visitation, — to 
ravage, ruin, and vanish. He harangued the 
Indians, and exhorted them to demolish the fort. 
They fell to the work with eagerness, and in less 
than a day not one stone was left on another. ^ 

Gourgues returned to the forts at the mouth of 
the river, destroyed them also, and took up his march 
for his ships. It was a triumphal procession. The 
Indians thronged around the victors with gifts of fish 
and game ; and an old woman declared that she was 
now ready to die, since she had seen the French once 
more. 

The ships were ready for sea. Gourgues bade his 

1 " Je ne faicts cecy comme a Espaignolz, n'y comme a Marannes ; 
mais comme a traistres, volleurs, et meurtriers." — De Gourgues MS. 

Maranne, or Marane, was a word of reproach applied to Spaniards. 
It seems originally to have meant a Moor. Michelet calls Ferdinand 
of Spain " ce vieux Marane avare." The Spanish Pope, Alexander 
the Sixth, was always nicknamed Le Marane by his enemy and 
successor, Rovere. 

On returning to the forts at the mouth of the river, Gourgues hanged 
all the prisoners he had left there. One of them, says the narrative, 
confessed that he had aided in hanging the French. 

2 " Ilz feirent telle diligence qu'en moings d'ung jour ilz ne laisserent 
pierre sur pierre." — De Gourgues MS. 



1568.] GOURGUES'S RETURlSr. 17T 

disconsolate allies farewell, and nothing would con- 
tent them but a promise to return soon. Before 
embarldng, he addressed his own men ; — 

"My friends, let us give thanks to God for the 
success He has granted us. It is He who saved us 
from tempests 5 it is He who inclined the hearts of 
the Indians towards us; it is He who blinded the 
understanding of the Spaniards. They were four to 
one, in forts well armed and provisioned. Our right 
was our only strength; and yet we have conquered. 
Not to our own swords, but to God only, we owe our 
victory. Then let us thank Him, my friends ; let us 
never forget His favors ; and let us pray that He may 
continue them, saving us from dangers, and guiding 
us safely home. Let us pray, too, that He may so 
dispose the hearts of men that our perils and toils 
may find favor in the eyes of our King and of all 
France, since all we have done was done for the 
King's service and for the honor of our country." ^ 

Thus Spaniards and Frenchmen alike laid their 
reeking swords on God's altar. 

Gourgues sailed on the third of May, and, gazing 
back along their foaming wake, the adventurers 
looked their last on the scene of their exploits. 
Their success had cost its price. A few of their 
number had fallen, and hardships still awaited the 
survivors. Gourgues, however, reached Rochelle 
on the day of Pentecost, and the Huguenot citizens 

1 De Gourgues MS. The speech is a little condensed in the 
translation. 

12 



1T8 DOMINIQUE DE GOURGUES. [1583. 

greeted him with all honor. At court it fared worse 
with him. The King, still obsequious to Spain, 
looked on him coldly and askance. The Spanish 
minister demanded his head. It was hinted to him 
that he was not safe, and he withdrew to Eouen, 
where he found asylum among his friends. His for- 
tune was gone; debts contracted for his expedition 
weighed heavily on him; and for years he lived in 
obscurity, almost in misery. 

At length his prospects brightened. Elizabeth of 
England learned his merits and his misfortunes, and 
invited him to enter her service. The King, who, 
says the Jesuit historian, had always at heart been 
delighted with his achievement,^ openly restored him 
to favor; while, some years later, Don Antonio 
tendered him command of his fleet, to defend his 
right to the crown of Portugal against Philip the 
Second. Gourgues, happy once more to cross swords 
with the Spaniards, gladly embraced this offer; but 
in 1583, on his way to join the Portuguese prince, 
he died at Tours of a sudden illness. ^ The French 
mourned the loss of the man who had wiped a blot 
from the national scutcheon, and respected his 
memory as that of one of the best captains of his 
time. And, in truth, if a zealous patriotism, a fiery 
valor, and skilful leadership are worthy of honor, 
then is such a tribute due to Dominique de Gourgues, 

1 Charlevoix, Nouvelle France, I. 105. 

2 Basanier, 123; Lescarbot, 141 ; Barcia, 137 ; Gaillard, Notice des 
Manuscrits de la Bibliotheque du RoL 



1574.] MENENDEZ. 179 

slave-catx3lier and half-pirate as he was, like other 
naval heroes of that wild age. 

Romantic as was his exploit, it lacked the fulness 
of poetic justice, since the chief offender escaped 
him. While Gourgues was sailing towards Florida, 
Menendez was in Spain, high in favor at court, where 
he told to approving ears how he had butchered the 
heretics. Borgia, the sainted General of the Jesuits, 
was his fast friend; and two years later, when he 
returned to America, the Pope, Paul the Fifth, 
regarding him as an instrument for the conversion of 
the Indians, wrote him a letter with his benediction.^ 
He re-established his power in Florida, rebuilt Fort 
San Mateo, and taught the Indians that death or 
flight was the only refuge from Spanish tyranny. 
They murdered his missionaries and spurned their 
doctrine, " The Devil is the best thing in the world, " 
they cried; "we adore him; he makes men brave." 
Even the Jesuits despaired, and abandoned Florida 
in disgust. 

Menendez was summoned home, where fresh honors 
awaited him from the Crown, though, according to 
the somewhat doubtful assertion of the heretical 
Grotius, his deeds had left a stain upon- his name 
among the people. ^ He was given command of the 
armada of three hundred sail and twenty thousand 
men, which, in 1574, was gathered at Santander 
against England and Flanders. But now, at the 

i " Carta de San Pio V. h Pedro Menendez/' Barcia, 139, 
2 Grotius, Annales, 63. 



180 DOMINIQUE DE GOURGUES. [1574. 

height of his fortunes, his career was abruptly closed. 
He died suddenly, at the age of fifty-five. Grotius 
affirms that he Idlled himself; but, in his eagerness 
to point the moral of his story, he seems to have 
overstepped the bounds of historic truth. The Spanish 
bigot was rarely a suicide ; for the rites of Christian 
burial and repose in consecrated ground were denied 
to the remains of the self-murderer. There is posi- 
tive evidence, too, in a codicil to the will of Menen- 
dez, dated at Santander on the fifteenth of September, 
15T4, that he was on that day seriously ill, though, 
as the instrument declares, "of sound mind." There 
is reason, then, to believe that this pious cut-throat 
died a natural death, crowned with honors, and 
soothed by the consolations of his religion. ^ 

It was he who crushed French Protestantism in 
America. To plant religious freedom on this western 
soil was not the mission of France. It was for her 
to rear in northern forests the banner of absolutism 
and of Rome; while among the rocks of Massachu- 
setts England and Calvin fronted her in dogged 
opposition. 

Long before the ice-crusted pines of Plymouth had 

1 For a copy of portions of the will, and other interesting papers 
concerning Meuendez, I am indebted to Buckingham Smith, Esq., 
whose patient and zealous research in the archives of Spain has thrown 
new light on Spanish North American history. 

There is a brief notice of Menendez in De la Mota's History of the 
Order of Santiago (1599), and also another of later date written to 
accompany his engraved portrait. Neither of them conveys any hint 
of suicide. 

Menendez was a Commander of the Order of Santiago. 



1574.] SAMUEL DE CIIAMPLAIN'. 181 

listened to the rugged psalmody of the Puritan, the 
solitudes of Western New York and the stern wilder- 
ness of Lake Huron were trodden by the iron heel of 
the soldier and the sandalled foot of the Franciscan 
friar. France was the true pioneer of the Great 
West. They who bore the fleur-de-lis were always 
in the van, patient, daring, indomitable. And fore- 
most on this bright roll of forest chivalry stands the 
half-forgotten name of Samuel de Champlain. 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAUST 

AND 

HIS ASSOCIATES ; 

WITH A 

VIEW OF EAELIER FRENCH ADVENTURE IN AMERICA, 

AND THE 

LEGENDS OF THE NORTHERN COASTS. 



\ 



PREFATORY NOTE 

TO 

CHAMPLAIN AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 



Samuel de Champlaest has been fitly called the 
Father of New France. In him were embodied her 
religious zeal and romantic spirit of adventure. 
Before the close of his career, purged of heresy, she 
took the posture which she held to the day of her 
death, — in one hand the crucifix, in the other the 
sword. His life, full of significance, is the true 
beginning of her eventful history. 

In respect to Champlain, the most satisfactory 
authorities are his own writings. These consist of the 
journal of his voyage to the West Indies and Mex- 
ico, of which the original is preserved at Dieppe ; 
the account of his first voyage to the St. Lawrence, 
published at Paris, in 1604, under the title of Des 
Sauvages ; a narrative of subsequent adventures and 
explorations, published at Paris in 1613, 1615, and 
1617, under the title of Voyage de la Nouvelle France ; 
a narrative of still later discoveries, published at 
Paris in 1620 and 1627 ; and, finally, a compendium 
of all his previous publications, with much additional 
matter, published in quarto at Paris in 1632, and illus- 
trated by a very curious and interesting map. 



186 CHAMPLAIN AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 

Next in value to the writings of Champlain are 
those of his associate, Lescarbot, whose Histoire de la 
NouvelU France is of great interest and authority as 
far as it relates the author's personal experience. 
The editions here consulted are those of 1612 and 
1618. The Muses de la Nouvelle France^ and other 
minor works of Lescarbot, have also been examined. 

The l^tablissement de la Foy of Le Clerc is of great 
value in connection with the present subject, con- 
taining documents and extracts from documents not 
elsewhere to be found. It is of extreme rarity, 
having been suppressed by the French government 
soon after its appearance in 1691. 

The Histoire du Canada of Sagard, the Premiere 
Mission des Jesuites of Carayon, the curious Relation 
of the Jesuit Biard, and those of the Jesuits Charles 
Lalemant, Le Jeune, and Brebeuf, together with two 
narratives — one of them perhaps written by Cham- 
plain — in the eighteenth and nineteenth volumes of 
the Mercure Frangais^ may also be mentioned as 
among the leading authorities of the body of this 
work. Those of the introductory portion need not 
be specified at present. 

Of manuscripts used, the principal are the Bref 
Discours of Champlain, or the journal of his voyage 
to the West Indies and Mexico ; the Grand Insu- 
laire et Pilotage d'' Andre Thevet^ an ancient and very 
curious document, in which the superstitions of 
Breton and Norman fishermen are recounted by one 
who shared them ; and a variety of official papers, 
obtained for me through the agency of Mr. B. P. 
Poore, from the archives of France. 



CHAMPLAIN AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 18T 

I am indebted to G. B. Faribault, Esq., of Quebec, 
and to the late Jacques Viger, Esq., of Montreal, 
for the use of valuable papers and memoranda ; to 
the Rev. John Cordner, of Montreal, for various kind 
acts of co-operation ; to Jared Sparks, LL.D., for 
the use of a copy of Le Clerc's Stahlissement de la 
Foy ; to Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan, for assistance in 
examining rare books in the State Library of New- 
York ; to John Carter Brown, Esq., and Colonel 
Thomas Aspinwall, for the use of books from their 
admirable collections ; while to the libraries of Har- 
vard College and of the Boston Athenasum I owe a 
standing debt of gratitude. 

The basis of descriptive passages was supplied 
through early tastes and habits, which long since 
made me familiar with most of the localities of the 
narrative. 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 



CHAPTER I. 

1488-1543. 

EARLY FRENCH ADVENTURE IN NORTH AMERICA. 

Traditions of French Discotert. — Normans, Bretons, Basques. 
— Legends and Superstitions. — Yerrazzano. — Jacques Car- 
tier. — Quebec. — Hochelaga. — Winter Miseries. — Rober- 
VAL. — The Isles of Demons. — The Colonists of Cap Rouge. 

When America was first made known to Europe, 
the part assumed by France on the borders of that 
new world was peculiar, and is little recognized. 
While the Spaniard roamed sea and land, burning 
for achievement, red-hot with bigotry and avarice, 
and while England, with soberer steps and a less 
dazzling result, followed in the path of discovery 
and gold-hunting, it was from France that those bar- 
barous shores first learned to serve the ends of peace- 
ful commercial industry. 

A French writer, however, advances a more ambi- 
tious claim. In the year 1488, four years before the 
first voyage of Columbus, America, he maintains, 



190 EARLY FREXCH ADVENTURE. [1492. 

was found by Frenchmen. Cousin, a navigator of 
Dieppe, being at sea off the African coast, was forced 
westward, it is said, by winds and currents to within 
sight of an unknown shore, where he presently 
descried the mouth of a great river. On board his 
ship was one Pinzon, whose conduct became so 
mutinous that, on his return to Dieppe, Cousin made 
complaint to the magistracy, who thereupon dismissed 
the offender from the maritime service of the town. 
Pinzon went to Spain, became known to Columbus, 
told him the discovery, and joined him on his voyage 
of 1492.1 

1 Memoires pour servir a VHistoire de Dieppe; Vitet, JSistoire df 
Dieppe, 226; Gaffarel, Bresil Frangais, 1. Compte-rendu du Congrht 
International des Americanistes, I. 398-414 ; Guerin, Navigateurs Fran- 
gais, 47 ; Estancelin, Navigateurs Normands, 332. This last writer's 
research to verify the tradition was vain. The bombardment of 1694 
nearly destroyed the archives of Dieppe, and nothing could be learned 
from the Pinzons of Palos. Yet the story may not be quite void of 
foundation. In 1500, Cabral was blown within sight of Brazil in a 
similar manner. Herrera {Hist. General, Dec. I. Lib. I. c. 3) gives 
several parallel instances as having reached the ears of Columbus be- 
fore his first voyage. Compare the Introduction to Lok's translation 
of Peter Martyr, and Eden and Willes, History of Travayles, fol. 1 ; 
also a story in the Journal de I'Amerique (Troyes, 1709), and Gomara, 
Hist. Gen. des Indes Occidentales, Lib. I. c. 13, These last, however, 
are probably inventions. 

In the Description des Costes de la Mer Oceane, a manuscript of 
the seventeenth century, it is said that a French pilot of St. Jean de 
Luz first discovered America : " II fut le premier jete' en la coste de 
I'Amerique par une violente tempeste, laissa son papier journal, com- 
muniqua la route qu'il avoit faite a Coulon, chez qui il mourut." (See 
Monteil, Traite de Materiaux Manuscrits, I. 340. ) The story is scarcely 
worth the mention. Harrisse {Les Cortereal, 27) thinks there is reason 
to believe that the Portuguese reached the American continent as early 
as 1474, or even ten years earlier. 



1497.] NEWFOUNDLAND. 191 

To leave this cloudland of tradition, and approach 
the confines of recorded history. The Normans, off- 
spring of an ancestry of conquerors, — the Bretons, 
that stubborn, hardy, unchanging race, who, among 
Druid monuments changeless as themselves, still 
cling with Celtic obstinacy to the thoughts and habits 
of the past, — the Basques, that primeval people, 
older than liistory, — all frequented from a very early 
date the cod-banks of Newfoundland. There is some 
reason to believe that this fishery existed before the 
voyage of Cabot, in 1497;^ there is strong evidence 

1 " Terra lisec ob lucrosissimara piscationis utilitatem summa littera- 
rum memoria a Gallis adiri solita, & ante mille sexcentos annos fre- 
quentari solita est." Postel, cited by Lescarbot, I. 237, and by Hornot, 
260. 

"De toute memoire, & des plusieurs siecles noz Diepois, Maloins, 
Rochelois, & autres mariniers du Havre de Grace, de Honfleur & autres 
lieux, font les voyages ordinaires en ces pais-la pour la pecherie des 
Morues." Lescarbot, I. 236. 

Compare the following extracts : — 

" Les Basques et les Bretons sont depuis plusieurs sifecles les seuls 
qui se soient employes a la peche de balaines et des molues ; et il est 
fort remarquable que S. Cabot, decouvrant la cote de Labrador, y 
trouva le nom de Bacallos, qui signifie des Molues en langue des 
Basques." — MS. in the Royal Library of Versailles. 

" Quant au nom de Bacalos, il est de I'imppsition de nos Basques, 
lesquels appellent une Morue, Bacaillos, & a leur imitation nos peuples 
de la Nouvelle France ont appris a nommer aussi la Morue Bacaillos, 
quoyqu'eu leur langage le nom propre de la morue soit Apege." Les- 
carbot, I. 237. 

De Laet also says, incidentally (p. 39), that "Bacalaos" is Basque 
for a codfish. I once asked a Basque gentleman the name for a cod- 
fish in his language, and he at once answered Baccalaos. The word 
has been adopted by the Spaniards, 

" Sebastian Cabot himself named those lands Baccalaos, because 
that in the seas thereabout he found so great multitudes of certain 
bigge fishes, much like unto Tunies (which the inhabitants call Bac- 



192 EARLY FRENCH ADVENTURE. [1527. 

that it began as early as the year 1504;^ and it is 
well established that, in 1517, fifty Castilian, French, 
and Portuguese vessels were engaged in it at once ; 
while in 1527, on the third of August, eleven sail of 
Norman, one of Breton, and two of Portuguese fisher- 
men were to be found in the Bay of St. John.^ 

calaos), that they sometimes stayed his shippes/* Peter Martyr in 
Hakluyt, III. 30; Eden and WiUes, 125. 

If, in the original Basque, Baccalaos is the word for a codfish, and 
if Cabot found it in use among the inhabitants of Newfoundland, it is 
hard to escape the conclusion that Basques had been there before him. 

This name Baccalaos is variously used by the old writers. Cabot 
gave it to the continent, as far as he coasted it. The earliest Spanish 
writers give it an application almost as comprehensive. On Wyt- 
fleit's map (1597) it is confined to Newfoundland and Labrador; on 
Ramusio's (1556), to the southern parts of Newfoundland; on Les- 
carbot's (1612), to the island of Cape Br^on; on De Laet's (1640), to 
a small island east of Newfoundland. 

1 Discorso d' un gran Capitano di Mare Francese, Ramusio, III. 
423. Ramusio does not know the name of the " gran capitano," but 
Estancelin proves him to have been Jean Parmentier, of Dieppe. 
Prom internal evidence, his memoir was written in 1539, and he says 
that Newfoundland was visited by Bretons and Normans thirty-five 
years before. "Britones et Normani anno a Christo uato M,CCCCC,- 
IIII has terras invenere." Wytfleit, Descriptionis Ptolemaicce Aug- 
mentum, 185. The translation of Wytfleit (Douay, 1611) bears also 
the name of Antoine Magin. It is cited by Champlain as " Niflet & 
Antoine Magin." See also Ogilby, America, 128; Porster, Voyages, 
431 ; Baumgartens, I. 516 ; Biard, Relation, 2; Bergeron, Traite de la 
Navigation, c. 14. 

2 Herrera, Dec. II. Lib. V. c. 3 ; Letter of John Rut, dated St. 
John's, 3 August, 1527, in Purchas, III. 809. 

The name of Cape Breton, found on the oldest maps, is a memorial 
of these early French voyages. Cartier, in 1534, found the capes and 
bays of Newfoundland already named by his countrymen who had 
preceded him. In 1565, Charles IX. of Prance informed the Spanish 
ambassador that the coast of North America had been discovered by 
Prench subjects more than a hundred years before, and is therefore 



1500-1550.J THE ISLES OF DEMONS. 193 

From tliis time forth, the Newfoundland fishery- 
was never abandoned. French, English, Spanish, 
and Portuguese made resort to the Banks, always 
jealous, often quarrelling, but still drawing up treas- 
ure from those exhaustless mines, and bearing home 
bountiful provision against the season of Lent. 

On this dim verge of the known world there were 
other perils than those of the waves. The rocks and 
shores of those sequestered seas had, so thought the 
voyagers, other tenants than the seal, the walrus, and 
the screaming sea-fowl, the bears which stole away 
their fish before their eyes,^ and the wild natives 
dressed in seal-skins. Griffins — so ran the story — 
infested the mountains of Labrador. ^ Two islands, 
north of Newfoundland, were given over to the fiends 
from whom they derived their name, the Isles of 
Demons. An old map pictures their occupants at 
length, — devils rampant, with wings, horns, and 
tail.^ The passing voyager heard the din of their 
infernal orgies, and woe to the sailor or the fisher- 
man who ventured alone into the haunted woods.* 

called " Terre aux Bretons." Papiers d'Estat de Forquevaulx, in 
Gaffarel, Florid e, 413. 

Navarrete's position, that the fisheries date no farther back than 
1540, is wholly untenable. 

1 " The Beares also be as bold, which will not spare at midday to 
take your fish before your face." — Letter of Anthonie Parkhurst, 1578, 
in Hakluyt, III. 170. 

2 Wytfleit, 190 ; Gomara, Lib. I. c. 2. 

8 See Bamusio, III. Compare La Popeliniere, Les Trots Mondes, 
IL 25. 

* Le Grand Insulaire et Pilotage d' Andre Thevet, Cosmographe du 
Boi/ (1586). I am indebted to G. B. Faribault, Esq., of Quebec, for a 

13 



194 EARLY FI^ENCH ADVENTURE. [1506-1518. 

"True it is," writes the old cosmographer Thevet, 
"and I myself have heard it, not from one, but from 
a great number of the sailors and pilots with whom I 
have made many voyages, that, when they passed 
this way, they heard in the air, on the tops and about 
the masts, a great clamor of men's voices, confused 
and inarticulate, such as you may hear from the 
crowd at a fair or market-place ; whereupon they well 
knew that the Isle of Demons was not far off." And 
he adds, that he himself, when among the Indians, 
had seen them so tormented by these infernal perse- 
cutors, that they would fall into his arms for relief; 
on which, repeating a passage of the Gospel of St. 
John, he had driven the imps of darkness to a speedy 
exodus. They are comely to look upon, he further 
tells us J yet, by reason of their malice, that island is 
of late abandoned, and all who dwelt there have fled 
for refuge to the main.^ 

While French fishermen plied their trade along 
these gloomy coasts, the French government spent 

copy of this curious manuscript. The islands are perhaps those of 
Belle Isle and Quirpon. More probably, however, that most held in 
dread, " pour autant que les Demons y font terrible tintamarre," is a 
small island near the northeast extremity of Newfoundland, variously 
called, by Thevet, Isle de Fiche, Isle de Roberval, and Isle des 
Demons. It is the same with the Isle Fichet of Sanson, and the 
Fishot Island of some modern maps. A curious legend connected with 
it will be given hereafter, 

1 Thevet, Cosmographie (1575), II. c. 5. A very rare book. I am 
indebted to Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan for copies of the passages in it 
relating to subjects within the scope of the present work. Thevet 
here contradicts himself in regard to the position of the haunted 
island, which he places at 60° north latitude. 



1515.] VERRAZZANO. 195 

its energies on a different field. The vitality of the 
kingdom was wasted in Italian wars. Milan and 
Naples offered a more tempting prize than the wilds 
of Baccalaos.i Eager for glory and for plunder, a 
swarm of restless nobles followed their knight-errant 
King, the would-be paladin, who, misshapen in body 
and fantastic in mind, had yet the power to raise a 
storm which the lapse of generations could not quell. 
Under Charles the Eighth and his successor, war and 
intrigue ruled the day; and in the whirl of Italian 
politics there was no leisure to think of a new world. 

Yet private enterprise was not quite benumbed. In 
1506, one Denis of Honfleur explored the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence ; ^ two years later, Aubert of Dieppe fol- 
lowed on his track; 3 and in 1518, the Baron de Ldry 
made an abortive attempt at settlement on Sable 
Island, where the cattle left by him remained and 
multiplied.* 

The crown passed at length to Francis of An- 
gouleme. There were in his nature seeds of noble- 
ness, — seeds destined to bear little fruit. Chivalry 
and honor were always on his lips ; but Francis the 
First, a forsworn gentleman, a despotic king, vain- 
glorious, selfish, sunk in debaucheries, was but the 
type of an era which retained the forms of the Middle 
Age without its soul, and added to a still prevailing 
barbarism the pestilential vices which hung fog-like 

1 See ante, p. 191, note 1. 

2 Parmentier in Ramusio, III. 423 ; Estancelin, 42-222. 
8 Ibid. 

* Lescarbot, I. 22 ; De Laet, Novus Orbis, 39 ; Bergeron, c. 15c 



196 EARLY FRENCH ADVENTURE, [1523. 

around the dawn of civilization. Yet lie esteemed 
art^ and letters, and, still more, coveted the eclat 
which they could give. The light which was begin- 
ning to pierce the feudal darkness gathered its rays 
around his throne. Italy was rewarding the robbers 
who preyed on her with the treasures of her knowl- 
edge and her culture; and Italian genius, of what- 
ever stamp, found ready patronage at the hands of 
Francis. Among artists, philosophers, and men of 
letters enrolled in his service stands the humbler 
name of a Florentine navigator, John Verrazzano. 

He was born of an ancient family, which could 
boast names eminent in Florentine history, and of 
which the last survivor died in 1819. He has been 
called a pirate, and he was such in the same sense in 
which Drake, Hawkins, and other valiant sea-rovers 
of his own and later times, merited the name ; that is 
to say, he would plunder and kill a Spaniard on the 
high seas without waiting for a declaration of war. 

The wealth of the Indies was pouring into the 
coffers of Charles the Fifth, and the exploits of 
Cortes had given new lustre to his crown. Francis 
the First begrudged his hated rival the glories and 
profits of the New World. He would fain have his 
share of the prize ; and Verrazzano, with four ships, 
was despatched to seek out a passage westward to the 
rich kingdom of Cathay. 

Some doubt has of late been cast on the reality of 
this voyage of Verrazzano, and evidence, mainly 
negative in kind, has been adduced to prove the story 



1524.] VERRAZZANO. 197 

of it a fabrication ; but the difficulties of incredulity 
appear greater than those of belief, and no ordinary 
degree of scepticism is required to reject the evidence 
that the narrative is essentially true.^ 

Towards the end of the year 1523, his four ships 
sailed from Dieppe; but a storm fell upon him, 
and, with two of the vessels, he ran back in distress 
to a port of Brittany. What became of the other 
two does not appear. Neither is it clear why, after 
a preliminary cruise against the Spaniards, he pursued 
his voyage with one vessel alone, a caravel called the 
"Dauphine." With her he made for Madeira, and, 
on the seventeenth of January, 1524, set sail from a 
barren islet in its neighborhood, and bore away for 
the unknown world. In forty-nine days they neared 
a low shore, not far from the site of Wilmington in 
North Carolina, "a newe land," exclaims the voyager, 
"never before seen of any man, either auncient or 
moderne."^ Verrazzano steered southward in search 
of a harbor, and, finding none, turned northward 
again. Presently he sent a boat ashore. The inhab- 
itants, who had fled at first, soon came down to the 
strand in wonder and admiration, pointing out a 
landing-place, and making gestures of friendship. 
"These people," says Verrazzano, "goe altogether 
naked, except only certain skinnes of beastes like 
unto martems [martens], which they fasten onto a 
narrowe girdle made of grasse. They are of colour 

^ See note, end of chapter. 

* Hakluyt's translation from Eamusio, in Divers f^aj/es (1582). 



198 EAELY FRENCH ADVENTURE. [1524. 

russet, and not much, unlike the Saracens, their hayre 
blacke, thicke, and not very long, which they tye 
togeather in a knot behinde, and weare it like a 
taile."! 

He describes the shore as consisting of small low 
hillocks of fine sand, intersected by creeks and inlets, 
and beyond these a country "full of Palme [pine?] 
trees. Bay trees, and high Cypresse trees, and many 
other sortes of trees, vnknowne in Europe, which 
yeeld most sweete sauours, farre from the shore." 
Still advancing northward, Verrazzano sent a boat 
for a supply of water. The surf ran high, and the 
crew could not land; but an adventurous young 
sailor jumped overboard and swam shoreward with a 
gift of beads and trinkets for the Indians, who stood 
watching him. His heart failed as he drew near ; he 
flung his gift among them, turned, and struck out 
for the boat. The surf dashed him back, flinging 
him with violence on the beach among the recipients 
of his bounty, who seized him by the arms and legs, 
and, while he called lustily for aid, answered him 
with outcries designed to allay his terrors. Next 
they kindled a great fire, — doubtless to roast and 
devour him before the eyes of his comrades, gazing 
in horror from their boat. On the contrary, they 
carefully warmed him, and were trying to dry his 
clothes, when, recovering from his bewilderment, he 
betrayed a strong desire to escape to his friends; 
whereupon, "with great love, clapping him fast 

1 Hakluyt's translation from Ramusio, in Divers Voyages (1682). 



1524.] VERRAZZANO. 199 

about, with many embracings, " they led him to the 
shore, and stood watching till he had reached the 
boat. 

It only remained to requite this kindness, and an 
opportunity soon occurred; for, coasting the shores 
of Virginia or Maryland, a party went on shore and 
found an old woman, a young girl, and several chil- 
dren, hiding with great terror in the grass. Having, 
by various blandishments, gained their confidence, 
they carried off one of the children as a curiosity, 
and, since the girl was comely, would fain have taken 
her also, but desisted by reason of her continual 
screaming. 

Verrazzano's next resting-place was the Bay of 
New York. Rowing up in his boat through the 
Narrows, under the steep heights of Staten Island, he 
saw the harbor within dotted with canoes of the 
feathered natives, coming from the shore to welcome 
him. But what most engaged the eyes of the white 
men were the fancied signs of mineral wealth in the 
neighboring hills. 

Following the shores of Long Island, they came to 
an island, which may have been Block Island, and 
thence to a harbor, which was probably that of New- 
port. Here they s'tayed fifteen days, most courteously 
received by the inhabitants. Among others appeared 
two chiefs, gorgeously arrayed in painted deer-skins, 
— kings, as Verrazzano calls them, with attendant 
gentlemen ; while a party of squaws in a canoe, kept 
by their jealous lords at a safe distance from the 



200 EARLY FRENCH ADVENTURE. [1524. 

caravel, figure in the narrative as the queen and her 
maids. The Indian wardrobe had been taxed to its 
utmost to do the strangers honor, — copper bracelets, 
lynx-skins, raccoon-skins, and faces bedaubed with 
gaudy colors. 

Again they spread their sails, and on the fifth of 
May bade farewell to the primitive hospitalities of 
Newport, steered along the rugged coasts of New 
England, and surveyed, ill pleased, the surf-beaten 
rocks, the pine-tree and the fir, the shadows and the 
gloom of mighty forests. Here man and nature alike 
were savage and repellent. Perhaps some plunder- 
ing straggler from the fishing-banks, some man- 
stealer like the Portuguese Cortereal, or some 
kidnapper of children and ravisher of squaws like 
themselves, had warned the denizens of the woods to 
beware of the worshippers of Christ. Their only 
intercourse was in the way of trade. From the brink 
of the rocks which overhung the sea the Indians 
would let down a cord to the boat below, demand 
fish-hooks, knives, and steel, in barter for their furs, 
and, their bargain made, salute the voyagers with 
unseemly gestures of derision and scorn. The French 
once ventured ashore ; but a war-whoop and a shower 
of arrows sent them back to their boats. 

Verrazzano coasted the seaboard of Maine, and 
sailed northward as far as Newfoundland, whence, 
provisions failing, he steered for France. He had 
not found a passage to Cathay, but he had explored 
the American coast from the thirty-fourth degree to 



1524.] VERRAZZANO. 201 

the fiftieth, and at various points had penetrated 
several leagues into the country. On the eighth of 
July, he wrote from Dieppe to the King the earliest 
description known to exist of the shores of the United 
States. 

Great was the joy that hailed his arrival, and great 
were the hopes of emolument and wealth from the 
new-found shores.^ The merchants of Lyons were 
in a flush of expectation. For himself, he was earnest 
to return, plant a colony, and bring the heathen 
tribes within the pale of the Church. But the time 
was inauspicious. The year of his voyage was to 
France a year of disasters, — defeat in Italy, the loss 
of Milan, the death of the heroic Bayard; and, while 
Verrazzano was writing his narrative at Dieppe, the 
traitor Bourbon was invading Provence. Prepara- 
tion, too, was soon on foot for the expedition which, 
a few months later, ended in the captivity of Francis 
on the field of Pavia. Without a king, without an 
army, without money, convulsed within, and threat- 
ened from without, France after that humiliation was 
in no condition to renew her Transatlantic enterprise. 

Henceforth few traces remain of the fortunes of 
Verrazzano. Ramusio affirms, that, on another voy- 
age, he was killed and eaten by savages, in sight of 
his followers ; ^ and a late writer hazards the conjec- 
ture that this voyage, if made at all, was made in the 

1 Fernando Carli a suo Padre, 4 Aug., 1524. 

2 Ramusio, III. 417; Wytfleit, 185. Compare Le Cleic, :^tablisse 
ment de la Foy^ I. 6. 



202 EARLY FRENCH ADVENTURE. [1527. 

service of Henry the Eighth of England.^ But a 
Spanish writer affirms that, in 1527, he was hanged 
at Puerto del Pico as a pirate, ^ and this assertion is 
fully confirmed by authentic documents recently 
brought to light. 

The fickle-minded King, always ardent at the out- 
set of an enterprise and always flagging before its 
close, divided, moreover, between the smiles of his 
mistresses and the assaults of his enemies, might 
probably have dismissed the New World from his 
thoughts. But among the favorites of his youth was 
a high-spirited young noble, Philippe de Brion- 
Chabot, the partner of his joustings and tennis-play- 
ing, his gaming and gallantries.^ He still stood high 
in the royal favor, and, after the treacherous escape 
of Francis from captivity, held the office of Admiral 
of France. When the kingdom had rallied in some 
measure from its calamities, he conceived the purpose 
of following up the path which Verrazzano had 
opened. 

The ancient town of St. Malo — thrust out like a 
buttress into the sea, strange and grim of aspect, 
breathing war from its walls and battlements of ragged 
stone, a stronghold of privateers, the home of a race 
whose intractable and defiant independence neither 
time nor change has subdued — has been for centuries 
a nursery of hardy mariners. Among the earliest 

1 Biddle, Memoir of Cabot, 275. 

2 Barcia, Ensayo Cronologico, 8. 

^ Brantome, II. 277 ; Biographic UniversellCi Art. Chabot. 



1534.] JACQUES CARTIER. 203 

and most eminent on its list stands the name of 
Jacques Cartier. His portrait hangs in the town-hall 
of St. Malo, — bold, keen features bespeaking a spirit 
not apt to quail before the wrath of man or of the 
elements. In him Chabot found a fit agent of his 
design, if, indeed, its suggestion is not due to the 
Breton navigator.^ 

Sailing from St. Malo on the twentieth of April, 
1534, Cartier steered for Newfoundland, passed 
through the Straits of Belle Isle, entered the Gulf of 
Chaleurs, planted a cross at Gaspe, and, never doubt- 
ing that he was on the high road to Cathay, advanced 
up the St. Lawrence till he saw the shores of Anti- 
costi. But autumnal storms were gathering. The 
voyagers took counsel together, turned their prows 
eastward, and bore away for France, carrying thither, 
as a sample of the natural products of the New 
World, two young Indians, lured into their clutches 
by an act of villanous treachery. The voyage was a 
mere reconnoissance.^ 

The spirit of discovery was awakened. A passage 
to India could be found, and a new France built up 
beyond the Atlantic. Mingled with such views of 
interest and ambition was another motive scarcely less 

1 Cartier was at this time forty years of age, having been born in 
December, 1494. I examined the St. Malo portrait in 1881. It is a 
recent work (1839), and its likeness is more than doubtful. 

2 Lescarbot, I. 232 (1612); Relation originale du Voyage de Jacques 
Cartier en 1534 (Paris, 1867) ; Cartier, Discours du Voyage, reprinted 
by the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec. Compare trans- 
lations in Hakluyt and Ramusio; MS. Map of Cartier's route in Depdt 
des Cartes, Carton V. 



204 EARLY FRENCH ADVENTURE. [1535. 

potent.^ The heresy of Luther was convulsing Ger- 
many, and the deeper heresy of Calvin infecting 
France. Devout Catholics, kindling with redoubled 
zeal, would fain requite the Church for her losses in 
the Old World by winning to her fold the infidels of 
the New. But, in pursuing an end at once so pious 
and so politic, Francis the First was setting at naught 
the supreme Pontiff himself, since, by the prepos- 
terous bull of Alexander the Sixth, all America had 
been given to the Spaniards. 

In October, 1534, Cartier received from Chabot 
another commission, and, in spite of secret but bit- 
ter opposition from jealous traders of St. Malo, he 
prepared for a second voyage. Three vessels, the 
largest not above a hundred and twenty tons, were 
placed at his disposal, and Claude de Pontbriand, 
Charles de la Pommeraye, and other gentlemen of 
birth, enrolled themselves for the adventure. On 
the sixteenth of May, 1535, officers and sailors 
assembled in the cathedral of St. Malo, where, after 
confession and mass, they received the parting bless- 
ing of the bishop. Three days later they set sail. 
The dingy walls of the rude old seaport, and the 
white rocks that line the neighboring shores of Brit- 
tany, faded from their sight, and soon they were 
tossing in a furious tempest. The scattered ships 
escaped the danger, and, reuniting at the Straits of 
Belle Isle, steered westward along the coast of Labra- 
dor, till they reached a small bay opposite the island 

1 Lettre de Cartier au Roy tres Chretien. 



1535.] SECOND VOYAGE OF CARTIER. 205 

of Anticosti. Cartier called it the Bay of St. Law- 
rence, — a name afterwards extended to the entire 
gulf, and to the great river above. ^ 

To ascend this great river, and tempt the hazards 
of its intricate navigation with no better pilots than 

1 Cartier calls the St. Lawrence the "River of Hochelaga," or 
"the great river of Canada." He confines the name of Canada to a 
district extending from the Isle aux Coudres in the St. Lawrence to 
a point at some distance above the site of Quebec. The country be- 
low, he adds, was called by the Indians Saguenay, and that above, 
Hochelaga. In the map of Gerard Mercator (1569) the name Canada 
is given to a town, with an adjacent district, on the river Stadin (St. 
Charles). Lescarbot, a later writer, insists that the country on both 
sides of the St. Lawrence, from Hochelaga to its mouth, bore the 
name of Canada. 

In the second map of Ortelius, published about the year 1572, New 
France, Nova Francia, is thus divided : Canada, a district on the St. 
Lawrence above the river Saguenay; Chilaga (Hochelaga), the angle 
between the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence ; Sagicenai, a district below 
the river of that name ; Moscosa, south of the St. Lawrence and east 
of the river Richelieu ; Avacal, west and south of Moscosa ; Norum- 
hega, Maine and New Brunswick ; Apalachen, Virginia, Pennsylvania, 
etc.; Terra Corterealis, Labrador; Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, 
Florida. 

Mercator confines the name of New France to districts bordering 
on the St. Lawrence. Others give it a much broader application. 
The use of this name, or the nearly allied names of Francisca and 
La Franciscane, dates back, to say the least, as far as 1525, and the 
Dutch geographers are especially free in their use of it, out of spite to 
the Spaniards. 

The derivation of the name of Canada has been a point of discus- 
sion. It is, without doubt, not Spanish, but Indian. In the vocabulary 
of the language of Hochelaga, appended to the journal of Cartier's 
second voyage, Canada is set down as the word for a town or village. 
" lis appellent une ville, Canada." It bears the same meaning in the 
Mohawk tongue. Both languages are dialects of the Iroquois. Les- 
carbot affirms that Canada is simply an Indian proper name, of which 
it is vain to seek a meaning. Belleforest also calls it an Indian word, 
but translates it " Terre," as does also Thevet. 



206 EARLY FEENCH ADYENTUKE. [1535. 

the two young Indians kidnapped the year before, 
was a venture of no light risk. But skill or fortune 
prevailed; and, on the first of September, the voya- 
gers reached in safety the gorge of the gloomy 
Saguenay, with its towering cliffs and sullen depth 
of waters. Passing the Isle aux Coudres, and the 
lofty promontory of Cape Tourmente, they came to 
anchor in a quiet channel between the northern shore 
and the margin of a richly wooded island, where the 
trees were so thickly hung with grapes that Cartier 
named it the Island of Bacchus.^ 

Indians came swarming from the shores, paddled 
their canoes about the ships, and clambered to the 
decks to gaze in bewilderment at the novel scene, 
and listen to the story of their travelled countrymen, 
marvellous in their ears as a visit to another planet. ^ 

1 Now the Island of Orleans. 

2 Doubt has been thrown on this part of Cartier's narrative, on the 
ground that these two young Indians, who were captured at Gaspe, 
could not have been so intimately acquainted as the journal represents 
with the savages at the site of Quebec. From a subsequent part of 
the journal, however, it appears that they were natives of this place, — 
" et la est la ville et demeurance du Seigneur Donnacona, et de nos 
deux hommes qu'avions pris le premier voyage." This is curiously 
confirmed by Thevet, who personally knew Cartier, and who, in his 
Singalarites de la France Antarctique (p. 147), says that the party to 
which the two Indians captured at Gaspe belonged spoke a language 
different from that of the other Indians seen in those parts, and that 
they had come on a war expedition from the river Chelogua (Hoche- 
laga). Compare New Found Worlde (London, 1568), 124. This will 
also account for Lescarbot's remark, that the Indians of Gasp^ had 
changed their language since Cartier's time. The language of Stada- 
cone, or Quebec, when Cartier visited it, was apparently a dialect of 
the Iroquois. 



1535.J CARTIER AT QUEBEC. 207 

Cartier received them kindly, listened to the long 
harangue of the great cliief Donnacona, regaled him 
with bread and wine; and, when relieved at length 
of his guests, set forth in a boat to explore the river 
above. 

As he drew near the opening of the channel, the 
Hochelaga again spread before him the broad expanse 
of its waters. A mighty promontory, rugged and 
bare, thrust its scarped front into the surging current. 
Here, clothed in the majesty of solitude, breathing 
the stern poetry of the wilderness, rose the cliffs now 
rich with heroic memories, where the fiery Count 
Frontenac cast defiance at his foes, where Wolfe, 
Montcalm, and Montgomery fell. As yet, all was a 
nameless barbarism, and a cluster of wigwams held 
the site of the rock-built city of Quebec.^ Its name 
was Stadacon^, and it owned the sway of the royal 
Donnacona. 

Cartier set out to visit this greasy potentate; 
ascended the river St. Charles, by him called the St. 
Croix, 2 landed, crossed the meadows, climbed the 
rocks, threaded the forest, and emerged upon a 

1 On ground now covered by the suburbs of St. Roque and St. John. 

2 Charlevoix denies that the St. Croix and the St. Charles are the 
same; but he supports his denial by an argument which proves 
nothing but his own gross carelessness. Champlain, than whom no 
one was better qualified to form an opinion, distinctly affirms the 
identity of the two rivers. See his Map of Quebec, and the accom- 
panying key, in the edition of 1613. La Potherie is of the same opin- 
ion ; as also, among modern writers, Faribault and Fisher. In truth, 
the description of localities in Cartier's journal cannot, when closely 
examined, admit a doubt on the subject. See also Berthelot, Disserta- 
tion sur le Canon de Bronze. 



208 EARLY FRENCH ADVENTURE. [1535. 

squalid hamlet of bark cabins. When, having satis- 
fied their curiosity, he and his party were rowing for 
the ships, a friendly interruption met them at the 
mouth of the St. Charles. An old chief harangued 
them from the bank, men, boys, and children screeched 
welcome from the meadow, and a troop of hilarious 
squaws danced knee-deep in the water. The gift of 
a few strings of beads completed their delight and 
redoubled their agility; and, from the distance of a 
mile, their shrill songs of jubilation still reached the 
ears of the receding Frenchmen. 

The hamlet of Stadacone, with its king, Donnacona, 
and its naked lords and princes, was not the me- 
tropolis of this forest state, since a town far greater 
— so the Indians averred — stood by the brink of the 
river, many days' journey above. It was called 
Hochelaga, and the great river itself, with a wide 
reach of adjacent country, had borrowed its name. 
Thither, with his two young Indians as guides, 
Cartier resolved to go; but misgivings seized the 
guides as the time drew near, while Donnacona and 
his tribesmen, jealous of the plan, set themselves to 
thwart it. The Breton captain turned a deaf ear to 
their dissuasions; on which, failing to touch his 
reason, they appealed to his fears. 

One morning, as the ships still lay at anchor, the 
French beheld three Indian devils descending in a 
canoe towards them, dressed in black and white dog- 
skins, with faces black as ink, and horns long as a 
man's arm. Thus arrayed, they drifted by, while 



1535.] CARTIER AT QUEBEC. 209 

the principal fiend, witli fixed eyes, as of one piercing 
the secrets of futurity, uttered in a loud voice a long 
harangue. Then they paddled for the shore; and no 
sooner did they reach it than each fell flat like a dead 
man in the bottom of the canoe. Aid, however, was 
at hand; for Donnacona and his tribesmen, rushing 
pell-mell from the adjacent woods, raised the swoon- 
ing masqueraders, and, with shrill clamors, bore 
them in their arms within the sheltering thickets. 
Here, for a full half -hour, the French could hear 
them haranguing in solemn conclave. Then the two 
young Indians whom Cartier had brought back from 
France came out of the bushes, enacting a pantomime 
of amazement and terror, clasping their hands, and 
calling on Christ and the Virgin ; whereupon Cartier, 
shouting from the vessel, asked what was the matter. 
They replied, that the god Coudouagny had sent to 
warn the French against all attempts to ascend the 
great river, since, should they persist, snows, 
tempests, and drifting ice would requite their rash- 
ness with inevitable ruin. The French replied that 
Coudouagny was a fool ; that he could not hurt those 
who believed in Christ ; and that they might tell this 
to his three m^essengers. The assembled Indians, 
with little reverence for their deity, pretended great 
contentment at this assurance, and danced for joy 
along the beach. ^ 

1 M. Berthelot, in his Dissertation sur le Canon de Bronze, discovers 
in this Indian pantomime a typical representation of the supposed 
shipwreck of Verrazzano in the St. Lawrence. This shipwreck, it is 
needless to say, is a mere imagination of this ingenious writer. 

14 



210 EARLY FRENCH ADVENTURE. [1535. 

Cartier now made ready to depart. And, first, he 
caused the two larger vessels to be towed for safe 
harborage within the mouth of the St. Charles. 
With the smallest, a galleon of forty tons, and two 
open boats, carrying in all fifty sailors, besides Pont- 
briand. La Pommeraye, and other gentlemen, he set 
out for Hochelaga. 

Slowly gliding on their way by walls of verdure 
brightened in the autumnal sun, they saw forests 
festooned with grape-vines, and waters alive with 
wild-fowl; they heard the song of the blackbird, the 
thrush, and, as they fondly thought, the nightingale. 
The galleon grounded; they left her, and, advancing 
with the boats alone, on the second of October neared 
the goal of their hopes, the mysterious Hochelaga. 

Just below where now are seen the quays and 
storehouses of Montreal, a thousand Indians thronged 
the shore, wild with delight, dancing, singing, crowd- 
ing about the strangers, and showering into the boats 
their gifts of fish and maize ; and, as it grew dark, 
fires lighted up the night, while, far and near, the 
French could see the excited savages leaping and 
rejoicing by the blaze. 

At dawn of day, marshalled and accoutred, they 
marched for Hochelaga. An Indian path led them 
through the forest which covered the site of Montreal. 
The morning air was chill and sharp, the leaves were 
changing hue, and beneath the oaks the ground was 
thickly strewn with acorns. They soon met an 
Indian chief with a party of tribesmen, or, as the 



1535.] HOCIIELAGA. 211 

old narrative lias it, "one of the principal lords of 
the said city," attended with a numerous retinue. ^ 
Greeting them after the concise courtesy of the 
forest, he led them to a fire kindled by the side of 
the path for their comfort and refreshment, seated 
them on the ground, and made them a long harangue, 
receiving in requital of his eloquence two hatchets, 
two knives, and a crucifix, the last of which he was 
invited to kiss. This done, they resumed their 
march, and presently came upon open fields, covered 
far and near with the ripened maize, its leaves rust- 
ling, and its yellow grains gleaming between the 
parting husks. Before them, wrapped in forests 
painted by the early frosts, rose the ridgy back of 
the Mountain of Montreal, and below, encompassed 
with its corn-fields, lay the Indian town. Nothing 
was visible but its encircling palisades. They were 
of trunks of trees, set in a triple row. The outer 
and inner ranges inclined till they met and crossed 
near the summit, while the upright row between 
them, aided by transverse braces, gave to the whole 
an abundant strength. Within were galleries for the 
defenders, rude ladders to mount them, and magazines 
of stones to throw down on the heads of assailants. 
It was a mode of fortification practised by all the 
tribes speaking dialects of the Iroquois, ^ 

1 " . . . Tun des principaulx seigneurs de la dicte ville, accom- 
paigne de plusieurs personnes." Cartier (1545), 23. 

2 That the Indians of Hochelaga belonged to the Huron-Iroquois 
family of tribes is evident from the afSnities of their language (com- 
pare Gallatin, Synopsis of Indian Tribes), and from the construction 



212 EARLY FRENCH ADVENTURE. [1535. 

The voyagers entered the narrow portal. Within, 
they saw some fifty of those large oblong dwellings so 
familiar in after years to the eyes of the Jesuit 
apostles in Iroquois and Huron forests. They were 

of their houses and defensive works. This was identical with the 
construction universal, or nearly so, among the Huron-Iroquois tribes. 
In Ramusio, III. 446^ there is a plan of Hochelaga and its defences, 
marked by errors which seem to show that the maker had not seen 
the objects represented. Whence the sketch was derived does not 
appear, as the original edition of Cartier does not contain it. In 1860, 
a quantity of Indian 'emains were dug up at Montreal, immediately 
below Sherbrooke Street, between Mansfield and Metcalfe Streets. 
(See a paper by Dr. Dawson, in Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, 
V. 430.) They may perhaps indicate the site of Hochelaga. A few, 
which have a distinctive character, belong not to the Algonquin, but 
to the Huron-Iroquois type. The short-stemmed pipe of terra-cotta is 
the exact counterpart of those found in the great Huron deposits of 
the dead in Canada West, and in Iroquois burial-places of Western 
New York. So also of the fragments of pottery and the instruments 
of bone used in ornamenting it. 

The assertion of certain Algonquius, who, in 1642, told the mission- 
aries that their ancestors once lived at Montreal, is far from conclusive 
evidence. It may have referred to an occupancy subsequent to Car- 
tier's visit, or, which is more probable, the Indians, after their favor- 
ite practice, may have .amused themselves with " hoaxing " their 
interlocutors. 

Cartier calls his vocabulary, Le Langage des Pays et Royaulmes de 
Hochelaga et Canada, aultrement appellee par nous la Nouuelle France 
(ed. 154,5). For this and other reasons it is more than probable that 
the Indians of Quebec, or Stadacone, were also of the Huron-Iroquois 
race, since by Canada he means the country about Quebec. Seventy 
years later, the whole region was occupied by Algonquins, and no 
trace remained of Hochelaga or Stadacone. 

There was a tradition among the Agnie's (Mohawks), one of the 
five tribes of the Iroquois, that their ancestors were once settled at 
Quebec. See Lafitau, I. 101. Canada, as already mentioned, is a 
Mohawk word. The tradition recorded by Golden, in his History oj 
the Five Nations (Iroquois), that they were formerly settled near 
Montreal, is of interest here. The tradition declares that they were 
driven thence by the Adirondacks (Algonquins). 



1535.] HOCHELAGA. 213 

about fifty yards in length, and twelve or fifteen 
wide, framed of sapling poles closely covered with 
sheets of bark, and each containing several fires and 
several families. In the midst of the town was an 
open area, or public square, a stone's throw in width. 
Here Cartier and his followers stopped, while the 
surrounding houses of bark disgorged their inmates, 
— swarms of children, and young women and old, 
their infants in their arms. They crowded about the 
visitors, crying for delight, touching their beards, 
feeling their faces, and holding up the screeching 
infants to be touched in turn. The marvellous visi- 
tors, strange in hue, strange in attire, with mous- 
tached lip and bearded chin, with arquebuse, halberd, 
helmet, and cuirass, seemed rather demigods than 
men. 

Due time having been allowed for this exuberance 
of feminine rapture, the warriors interposed, banished 
the women and children to a distance, and squatted 
on the ground around the French, row within row 
of swarthy forms and eager faces, "as if," says 
Cartier, "we were going to act a play."^ Then 
appeared a troop of women, each bringing a mat, 
with which they carpeted the bare earth for the 
behoof of their guests. The latter being seated, the 
chief of the nation was borne before them on a deer- 
skin by a number of his tribesmen, a bedridden old 
savage, paralyzed and helpless, squalid as the rest in 

1 " . . . comme sy eussions voulu iouer vng mystere." Cartier, 2S 
(1545). 



214 EARLY FRENCH ABVENTURE. [1535. 

Ms attire, and distinguished only by a red fillet, 
inwrought with the dyed quills of the Canada porcu- 
pine, encircling his lank black hair. They placed 
him on the ground at Cartier's feet and made signs 
of welcome for him, while he pointed feebly to his 
powerless limbs, and implored the healing touch from 
the hand of the French chief. Cartier complied, and 
received in acknowledgment the red fillet of his 
grateful patient. Then from surrounding dwellings 
appeared a woeful throng, the sick, the lame, the 
blind, the maimed, the decrepit, brought or led forth 
and placed on the earth before the perplexed com- 
mander, "as if," he says, "a god had come down to 
cure them." His skill in medicine being far behind 
the emergency, he pronounced over his petitioners a 
portion of the Gospel of St. John, made the sign of 
the cross, and uttered a prayer, not for their bodies 
only, but for their miserable souls. Next he read 
the passion of the Saviour, to which, though com- 
prehending not a word, his audience listened with 
grave attention. Then came a distribution of pres- 
ents. The squaws and children were recalled, and, 
with the warriors, placed in separate groups. Knives 
and hatchets were given to the men, and beads to the 
women, while pewter rings and images of the Agnus 
Dei were flung among the troop of children, whence 
ensued a vigorous scramble in the square of Hoche- 
laga. Now the French trumpeters pressed their 
trumpets to their lips, and blew a blast that filled 
the air with warlike din and the hearts of the hearers 



J535.] HOCIIELAGA. 215 

with amazement and delight. Bidding their hosts 
farewell, the visitors formed their ranks and defiled 
through the gate once more, despite the efforts of a 
crowd of women, who, with clamorous hospitality, 
beset them with gifts of fish, beans, corn, and other 
viands of uninviting aspect, which the Frenchmen 
courteously declined. 

A troop of Indians followed, and guided them to 
the top of the neighboring mountain. Cartier called 
it Mont Boyal^ Montreal; and hence the name of the 
busy city which now holds the site of the vanished 
Hochelaga. Stadacon^ and Hochelaga, Quebec and 
Montreal, in the sixteenth century as in the nine- 
teenth, were the centres of Canadian population. 

From the summit, that noble prospect met his eye 
which at this day is the delight of tourists, but 
strangely changed, since, first of white men, the 
Breton voyager gazed upon it. Tower and dome 
and spire, congregated roofs, white sail, and gliding 
steamer, animate its vast expanse with varied life. 
Cartier saw a different scene. East, west, and south, 
the mantling forest was over all, and the broad blue 
ribbon of the great river glistened amid a realm of 
verdure. Beyond, to the bounds of Mexico, stretched 
a leafy desert, and the vast hive of industry, the 
mighty battle-ground of later centuries, lay sunk in 
savage torpor, wrapped in illimitable woods. 

The French re-embarked, bade farewell to Hoche- 
laga, retraced their lonely course down the St. Law- 
rence, and reached Stadacone in safety. On the 



216 EARLY FRENCH ADVENTURE. [1536. 

bank of the St. Charles, their companions had built 
in their absence a fort of palisades, and the ships, 
hauled up the little stream, lay moored before it.^ 
Here the self-exiled company were soon besieged by 
the rigors of the Canadian winter. The rocks, the 
shores, the pine-trees, the solid floor of the frozen 
river, all alike were blanketed in snow beneath the 
keen cold rays of the dazzling sun. The drifts rose 
above the sides of their ships; masts, spars, and 
cordage were thick with glittering incrustations and 
sparkling rows of icicles ; a frosty armor, four inches 
thick, encased the bulwarks. Yet, in the bitterest 
weather, the neighboring Indians, "hardy," says the 
journal, " as so many beasts, " came daily to the fort, 
wading, half naked, waist-deep through the snow. 
At length, their friendship began to abate; their 
visits grew less frequent, and during December had 
wholly ceased, when a calamity fell upon the 
French. 

A malignant scurvy broke out among them. Man 
after man went down before the hideous disease, till 
twenty-five were dead, and only three or four were 
left in health. The sound were too few to attend 
the sick, and the wretched sufferers lay in helpless 
despair, dreaming of the sun and the vines of France. 
The ground, hard as flint, defied their feeble efforts, 

^ In 1608, Champlain found the remains of Cartier's fort. See 
Champlain (1613), 184-191. Charlevoix is clearly wrong as to the 
locality. M. Faribault, who has collected the evidence (see Voyages 
de Decouverte au Canada, 109-119), thinks the fort was near the junc- 
tion of the little river Lairet with the St. Charles. 



1535, 1536.] WINTER MISERIES. 217 

and, unable to bury their dead, they hid them in 
snow-drifts. Cartier appealed to the saints; but 
they turned a deaf ear. Then he nailed against a 
tree an image of the Virgin, and on a Sunday sum- 
moned forth his woe-begone followers, who, haggard, 
reeling, bloated with their maladies, moved in pro- 
cession to the spot, and, kneeling in the snow, sang 
Ktanies and psalms of David. That day died Philippe 
Rougemont, of Amboise, aged twenty- two years. 
The Holy Virgin deigned no other response. 

There was fear that the Indians, learning their 
misery, might finish the work that scurvy had begun. 
None of them, therefore, were allowed to approach 
the fort ; and when a party of savages lingered within 
hearing, Cartier forced liis invalid garrison to beat 
with sticks and stones against the walls, that their 
dangerous neighbors, deluded by the clatter, might 
think them engaged in hard labor. These objects of 
their fear proved, however, the instruments of their 
salvation. Cartier, walking one day near the river, 
met an Indian, who not long before had been pros- 
trate, like many of his fellows, with the scurvy, but 
who was now, to all appearance, in high health and 
spirits. What agency had wrought this marvellous 
recovery? According to the Indian, it was a certain 
evergreen, called by him ameda^'^ a decoction of the 
leaves of which was sovereign against the disease. 

1 Ameda,mthe edition of 1545; annedda,'m Lescarbot, Ternaux- 
Compans, and Faribault. The wonderful tree seems to have been a 
spruce, or, more probably, an arbor-vitKe. 



218 EARLY FRENCH ADVENTURE. [1536. 

The experiment was tried. The sick men drank 
copiously of the healing draught, — so copiously 
indeed that in six days they drank a tree as large as 
a French oak. Thus vigorously assailed, the dis- 
temper relaxed its hold, and health and hope began 
to revisit the hapless company. 

When this winter of misery had worn away, and 
the ships were thawed from their icy fetters, Cartier 
prepared to return. He had made notable discoveries ; 
but these were as nothing to the tales of wonder that 
had reached his ear, — of a land of gold and rubies, 
of a nation white like the French, of men who lived 
without food, and of others to whom Nature had 
granted but one leg. Should he stake his credit on 
these marvels ? It were better that they who had re- 
counted them to him should, with their own lips, 
recount them also to the King, and to this end he 
resolved that Donnacona and his chiefs should go 
with him to court. He lured them therefore to the 
fort, and led them into an ambuscade of sailors, who, 
seizing the astonished guests, hurried them on board 
the ships. Having accomplished this treachery, the 
voyagers proceeded to plant the emblem of Christian- 
ity. The cross was raised, the fleur-de-lis planted 
near it, and, spreading their sails, they steered for 
home. It was the sixteenth of July, 1536, when Car- 
tier again cast anchor under the walls of St. Malo.^ 

1 Of the original edition (1545) of the narrative of this voyage only 
one copy is known, — that in the British Museum. It is styled, Brief 
Recit, ^- succincte narration, de la nauigation faicte es ysles de Canada^ 
Hochelage Sf Saguenay ^ autres, auec particulieres meurs, langaige, ^ 



1540.] ROBERVAL'S COMMISSION. 219 

A rigorous climate, a savage people, a fatal disease, 
and a soil barren of gold were the allurements of 
New France. Nor were the times auspicious for a 
renewal of the enterprise. Charles the Fifth, flushed 
with his African triumphs, challenged the Most 
Christian King to single combat. The war flamed 
forth with renewed fury, and ten years elapsed before 
a hollow truce varnished the hate of the royal rivals 
with a thin pretence of courtesy. Peace returned; 
but Francis the First was sinking to his ignominious 
grave, under the scourge of his favorite goddess, and 
Chabot, patron of the former voyages, was in 
disgrace.^ 

Meanwhile the ominous adventure of New France 
had found a champion in the person of Jean Francois 
de la Roque, Sieur de Roberval, a nobleman of 
Picardy. Though a man of high account in his own 
province, his past honors paled before the splendor 
of the titles said to have been now conferred on him, 
— Lord of Norembega, Viceroy and Lieutenant- 
General in Canada, Hochelaga, Saguenay, Newfound- 
land, Belle Isle, Carpunt, Labrador, the Great Bay, 
and Baccalaos.2 To this windy gift of ink and parch- 

ceremonies des habitans cVicelles ; fort delectable d. veoir. As may be 
gathered from the title, the style and orthography are those of the 
days of Eabelais. It has been reprinted (1863) with valuable notes by 
M. d'Avezac. 

1 Brantome, 11. 283 ; Anquetil, V. 397 ; Sismondi, XVII. 62. 

2 Labrador — Laboratoris Terra — is so called from the circum- 
stance that Cortereal in the year 1 500 stole thence a cargo of Indians 
for slaves. Belle Isle and Carpunt, — the strait and islands between 
Labrador and Newfoundland. The Great Bay, — the Gulf of St. Law- 



220 EAKLY FRENCH ADVENTURE. [1540. 

ment was added a solid grant from the royal treasury, 
with which five vessels were procured and equipped: 
and to Cartier was given the post of Captain-General. 
"We have resolved," says Francis, "to send him 
again to the lands of Canada and Hochelaga, which 
form the extremity of Asia towards the west."^ His 
commission declares the objects of the enterprise to 
be discovery, settlement, and the conversion of the 
Indians, who are described as " men without knowl- 
edge of God or use of reason, "^ — a pious design, 
held doubtless in full sincerity by the royal profligate, 
now, in his decline, a fervent champion of the Faith 
and a strenuous tormentor of heretics. The machin- 
ery of conversion was of a character somewhat ques- 
tionable, since Cartier and Roberval were empowered 
to ransack the prisons for thieves, robbers, and other 

rence. Norembega, or Norumbega, more properly called Arambec 
(Hakluyt, III. 167), was, in Ramusio's map, the country embraced 
within Nova Scotia, southern New Brunswick, and a part of Maine. 
De Laet confines it to a district about the mouth of the Penobscot. 
Wytfleit and other early writers say that it had a capital city of the 
same name ; and in several old maps this fabulous metropolis is laid 
down, with towers and churches, on the river Penobscot. The word 
is of Indian origin. 

Before me is the commission of Roberval, Lettres Patentes accordees 
a Jehan Frangoys de la Roque Sr de Roberval, copied from the French 
archives. Here he is simply styled "notre Lieutenant-General, Chef 
Ducteur et Cappitaine de la d. entreprinse." The patent is in Lescar- 
bot (1618). In the Archives de la Bibliotheque Publique de Rouen, an 
edict is preserved authorizing Roberval to raise " une armee de volon- 
taires avec victuailles artillerie, etc. pour aller au pays de Canada," 
Harrisse has printed curious original documents concerning Roberval 
in his Notes sur la Nouvelle France. 

1 Depar le Roj/, 17 Oct., 1540 (Harrisse). 

2 See the commission in Lescarbot, I. 411 ; and Hazard, I. 19. 



1540.] KOBERVAL'S COMMISSION. 221 

malefactors, to complete their crews and strengthen 
the colony. "Whereas," says the King, "we have 
undertaken this voyage for the honor of God our 
Creator, desiring with all our heart to do that which 
shall be agreeable to Him, it is our will to perform a 
compassionate and meritorious work towards criminals 
and malefactors, to the end that they may acknowl- 
edge the Creator, return thanks to Him, and mend 
their lives. Therefore we have resolved to cause to 
be delivered to our aforesaid lieutenant (Roberval), 
such and so many of the aforesaid criminals and male- 
factors detained in our prisons as may seem to him 
useful and necessary to be carried to the aforesaid 
countries."^ Of the expected profits of the voyage 
the adventurers were to have one third and the King 
another, while the remainder was to be reserved 
towards defraying expenses. 

With respect to Donnacona and his tribesmen, 
basely kidnapped at Stadacond, their souls had 
been better cared for than their bodies; for, 
having been duly baptized, they all died within a 
year or two, to the great detriment, as it proved, of 
the expedition. 2 

Meanwhile, from beyond the Pyrenees, the Most 
Catholic King, with alarmed and jealous eye, watched 
the preparations of his Most Christian enemy. 
America, in his eyes, was one vast province of Spain, 

1 Pouvoir donne par 2e Roy au Seigneur de Roberval, 7 Feb., 1540 
(Harrisse). 

2 M. Charles Cunat a M. L. Hovins, Maire de St. Malo. This is a 



222 EAKLY FRENCH ADVENTURE. [1540. 

to be vigilantly guarded against tlie intruding for- 
eigner. To what end were men mustered, and ships 
fitted out in the Breton seaports ? Was it for coloniza- 
tion, and if so, where ? Was it in Southern Florida, 
or on the frozen shores of Baccalaos, of which Breton 
cod-fishers claimed the discovery? Or would the 
French build forts on the Bahamas, whence they 
could waylay the gold ships in the Bahama Channel ? 
Or was the expedition destined against the Spanish 
settlements of the islands or the Main? Reinforce- 
ments were despatched in haste, and a spy was sent 
to France, who, passing from port to port, Quimper, 
St. Malo, Brest, Morlaix, came back freighted with 
exaggerated tales of preparation. The Council of 
the Indies was called. " The French are bound for 
Baccalaos," — such was the substance of their report; 
"your Majesty will do well to send two caravels to 
watch their movements, and a force to take posses- 
sion of the said country. And since there is no other 
money to pay for it, the gold from Peru, now at 
Panama, might be used to that end." The Cardinal 
of Seville thought lightly of the danger, and prophe- 
sied that the French would reap nothing from their 
enterprise but disappointment and loss. The King 
of Portugal, sole acknowledged partner with Spain 

report of researches made by M. Cunat in 1844 in the archives of St. 
Malo. 

Exlrait Baptistaire des Sauvages amenes en France par Honneste 
Homme Jacques Cartier. 

Thevet says that he knew Donuacoua in France, and found him " a 
good Christian." 



1541.] CARTIER SAILS. 223 

in the ownership of the New World, was invited by 
the Spanish ambassador to take part in an expedition 
against the encroaching French. " They can do no 
barm at Baccalaos," was the cold reply; "and so," 
adds the indignant ambassador, "this King would 
hHj if they should come and take him here at Lisbon; 
such is the softness they show here on the one hand, 
while, on the other, they wish to give law to the 
whole world." ^ 

The five sliips, occasions of this turmoil and alarm, 
had lain at St. Malo waiting for cannon and muni- 
tions from Normandy and Champagne. They waited 
in vain, and as the King's orders were stringent 
against delay, it was resolved that Cartier should sail 
at once, leaving Roberval to follow with additional 
ships when the expected supplies arrived. 

On the twenty-third of May, 1541,2 the Breton 
captain again spread his canvas for New France, and, 
passing in safety the tempestuous Atlantic, the fog- 
banks of Newfoundland, the island rocks clouded 
with screaming sea-fowl, and the forests breathing 
piny odors from the shore, cast anchor again beneath 
the cliffs of Quebec. Canoes came out from shore 
filled with feathered savages inquiring for their 
kidnapped chiefs. " Donnacona, '* replied Cartier, " is 
dead;" but he added the politic falsehood, that the 
others had married in France, and lived in state, like 

1 See the documents on this subject in the Coleccion de Varios Docu- 
mentos of Buckingham Smith, I. 107-112. 

2 Hakluyt's date, 1540, is incorrect. 



224 EARLY FRE:N'CH ADVENTUEE. [1541. 

great lords. The Indians pretended to be satisfied; 
but it was soon apparent that they looked askance on 
the perfidious strangers. 

Cartier pursued his course, sailed three leagues and 
a half up the St. Lawrence, and anchored off the 
mouth of the River of Cap Rouge. It was late in 
August, and the leafy landscape sweltered in the 
sun. The Frenchmen landed, picked up quartz 
crystals on the shore and thought them diamonds, 
climbed the steep promontory, drank at the spring 
near the top, looked abroad on the wooded slopes 
beyond the little river, waded through the tall grass 
of the meadow, found a quarry of slate, and gathered 
scales of a yellow mineral which glistened like gold, 
then returned to their boats, crossed to the south 
shore of the Sto Lawrence, and, languid with the 
heat, rested in the shade of forests laced with an 
entanglement of grape-vines. 

Now their task began, and while some cleared off 
the woods and sowed turnip-seed, others cut a zigzag 
road up the height, and others built two forts, one at 
the summit, and one on the shore below. The forts 
finished, the Vicomte de Beaupr^ took command, 
while Cartier went with two boats to explore the 
rapids above Hochelaga. When at length he returned, 
the autumn was far advanced; and with the gloom 
of a Canadian November came distrust, foreboding, 
and homesickness. Roberval had not appeared ; the 
Indians kept jealously aloof; the motley colony was 
sullen as the dull, raw air around it. There was 



1542.] ROBERVAL AND CARTIER. 225 

disgust and ire at Cliarlesbourg-Royal, for so the 
place was called. ^ 

Meanwhile, imexpected delays had detained the 
impatient Roberval ; nor was it until the sixteenth of 
April, 1542, that, with three ships and two hundred 
colonists, he set sail from Rochelle. When, on the 
eighth of June, he entered the harbor of St. John, 
he found seventeen fishing-vessels lying there at 
anchor. Soon after, he descried tliree other sail 
rounding the entrance of the haven, and, with anger 
and amazement, recognized the ships of Jacques 
Cartier. That voyager had broken up his colony and 
abandoned New France. What motives had prompted 
a desertion little consonant with the resolute spirit 
of the man it is impossible to say, — whether sickness 
within, or Indian enemies without, disgust with an 
enterprise whose unripened fruits had proved so hard 
and bitter, or discontent at finding himself reduced 
to a post of subordination in a country which he 
had discovered and where he had commanded. The 
Viceroy ordered him to return; but Cartier escaped 
with his vessels under cover of night, and made sail 
for France, carrying with him as trophies a few 
quartz diamonds from Cap Rouge, and grains of 
sham gold from the neighboring slate ledges. Thus 
closed the third Canadian voyage of this notable 

^ The original narrative of this voyage is fragmentary, and exists 
only in the translation of Hakluyt. Furchas, Belknap, Forster, Chal- 
mers, and the other secondary writers, all draw from this source. The 
narrative published by tlie Literary and Historical Society of Quebec 
is the English version of Hakluyt retranslated into French. 



226 EARLY FRENCH ADYENTURE. [1542. 

explorer. His discoveries had gained for him a 
patent of nobility, and he owned the seigniorial man- 
sion of Limoilou,^ a rude structure of stone still 
standing. Here, and in the neighboring town of St. 
Malo, where also he had a house, he seems to have 
lived for many years. ^ 

Roberval once more set sail, steering northward to 
the Straits of Belle Isle and the dreaded Isles of 
Demons. And here an incident befell which the 
all-believing Thevet records in manifest good faith, 
and which, stripped of the adornments of superstition 
and a love of the marvellous, has without doubt a 
nucleus of truth. I give the tale as I find it. 

The Viceroy's company was of a mixed com- 
plexion. There were nobles, officers, soldiers, sailors, 
adventurers, with women too, and children. Of the 
women, some were of birth and station, and among 
them a damsel called Marguerite, a niece of Roberval 
himself. In the ship was a young gentleman who 

1 This curious relic, which in 1865 was still entire, in the suburbs of 
St. Malo, was as rude in construction as an ordinary farmhouse. It had 
only a kitchen and a hall below, and two rooms above. At the side was 
a small stable, and, opposite, a barn. These buildings, together with 
two heavy stone walls, enclosed a square court. Adjacent was a garden 
and an orchard. The whole indicates a rough and simple way of life. 
See Rame, Note sur le Manoir de Jacques Cartier. 

2 The above account of the departure of Cartier from Canada is 
from Hakluyt. Since it was written, M. Gosselin, archivist of the 
Palais de Justice at Rouen, has discovered a paper which shows that 
Roberval sailed from France, not on the 16th of April, 1542, but on the 
22d of August, 1541, thus confusing the narrative of Hakluyt. What 
remains certain is that Cartier left Canada while Roberval stayed there, 
and that there were disputes between them. See Rame', Documents 
In€dits (1865). 22. 



1542.] MARGUERITE. 22T 

had embarked for love of her. His love was too well 
requited; and the stern Viceroy, scandalized and 
enraged at a passion which scorned concealment and 
set shame at defiance, cast anchor by the haunted 
island, landed his indiscreet relative, gave her four 
arquebuses for defence, and, with an old Norman 
nurse named Bastiemie, who had pandered to the 
lovers, left her to her fate. Her gallant threw him- 
self into the surf, and by desperate effort gained 
the shore, with two more guns and a supply of 
ammunition. 

The ship weighed anchor, receded, vanished, and 
they were left alone. Yet not so, for the demon 
lords of the island beset them day and night, raging 
around their hut with a confused and hungry clamor- 
ing, striving to force the frail barrier. The lovers 
had repented of their sin, though not abandoned it, 
and Heaven was on their side. The saints vouch- 
safed their aid, and the offended Virgin, relenting, 
held before them her protecting sliield. In the form 
of beasts or other shapes abominably and unutterably 
hideous, the brood of hell, howling in baffled fury, 
tore at the branches of the sylvan dwelling; but a 
celestial hand was ever interposed, and there was a 
viewless barrier which they might not pass. Mar- 
guerite became pregnant. Here was a double prize, 
two souls in one, mother and child. The fiends grew 
frantic, but all in vain. She stood undaunted amid 
these horrors; but her lover, dismayed and heart- 
broken, sickened and died. Her child soon followed; 



228 EARLY FRENCH ADVENTURE. [1542. 

then the old Norman nurse found her unhallowed 
rest in that accursed soil, and Marguerite was left 
alone. Neither her reason nor her courage failed. 
When the demons assailed her, she shot at them with 
her gun, but they answered with hellish merriment, 
and thenceforth she placed her trust in Heaven alone. 
There were foes around her of the upper, no less than 
of the nether world. Of these, the bears were the 
most redoubtable; yet, being vulnerable to mortal 
weapons, she killed three of them, all, says the story, 
"as white as an egg.''* 

It was two years and five months from her landing 
on the island, when, far out at sea, the crew of a 
small fishing-craft saw a column of smoke curling 
upward from the haunted shore. Was it a device of 
the fiends to lure them to their ruin ? They thought 
so, and kept aloof. But misgiving seized them. 
They warily drew near, and descried a female 
figure in wild attire waving signals from the 
strand. Thus at length was Marguerite rescued 
and restored to her native France, where, a few 
years later, the cosmographer Thevet met her at 
Natron in Perigord, and heard the tale of wonder 
from her own lips.^ 

1 The story is taken from the curious manuscript of 1586. Compare 
the Cosmographie of Thevet (1575), II. c. 6. Thevet was the personal 
friend both of Cartier and of Roberval, the latter of whom he calls 
" mon familier," and the former, " mon grand et singulier amy." He 
says that he lived five months with Cartier in his house at St. Malo. 
He was also a friend of Rabelais, who once, in Italy, rescued him from 
a serious embarrassment. See the Notice Biographique prefixed to the 
edition of Rabelais of Burgaud des Marets and Rathery. The story of 



1542.] ROBERVAL AT CAP ROUGE. 229 

Having left his offending niece to the devils and 
bears of the Isles of Demons, Roberval held his course 
up the St. Lawrence, and dropped anchor before the 
heights of Cap Rouge. His company landed ; there 
were bivouacs along the strand, a hubbub of pick and 
spade, axe, saw, and hammer; and soon in the wil- 
derness uprose a goodly structure, half barrack, half 
castle, with two towers, two spacious halls, a kitchen, 
chambers, store-rooms, workshops, cellars, garrets, a 
well, an oven, and two water-mills. Roberval named 
it France-Roy, and it stood on that bold acclivity 
where Cartier had before intrenched himself, the St. 
Lawrence in front, and on the right the River of Cap 
Rouge. Here all the colony housed under the same 
roof, like one of the experimental communities of 
recent days, — officers, soldiers, nobles, artisans, 
laborers, and convicts, with the women and children 
in whom lay the future hope of New France. 

Experience and forecast had both been wanting. 
There were storehouses, but no stores ; mills, but no 
grist; an ample oven, and a dearth of bread. It was 
only when two of the ships had sailed for France that 
they took account of their provision and discovered 
its lamentable shortcoming. Winter and famine fol- 
lowed. They bought fish from the Indians, and dug 

Marguerite is also told in the Heptameron of Marguerite de Yalois, 
sister of Francis I. (1559). 

In the Routier of Jean Alphonse, Roberval's pilot, where the princi- 
pal points of the voyage are set down, repeated mention is made of 
" les Isles de la Demoiselle," immediately north of Newfoundland. The 
inference is obvious that the demoiselle was Marguerite. 



230 EARLY FRENCH ADVENTURE. [1543, 

roots and boiled them in wliale-oil. Disease broke 
out, and, before spring, killed one third of the colony. 
The rest would have quarrelled, mutinied, and other- 
wise aggravated their inevitable woes, but disorder 
was dangerous under the iron rule of the inexorable 
Koberval. Michel Gaillon was detected in a petty 
theft, and hanged. Jean de Nantes, for a more 
venial offence, was kept in irons. The quarrels of 
men and the scolding of women were alike requited 
at the whipping-post, "by which means," quaintly 
says the narrative, "they lived in peace." 

Thevet, while calling himself the intimate friend 
of the Viceroy, gives a darker coloring to his story. 
He says that, forced to unceasing labor, and chafed 
by arbitrary rules, some of the soldiers fell under 
Roberval's displeasure, and six of them, formerly his 
favorites, were hanged in one day. Others were 
banished to an island, and there kept in fetters j 
wliile, for various light offences, several, both men 
and women, were shot. Even the Indians were 
moved to pity, and wept at the sight of their woes.^ 

And here, midway, our guide deserts us; the 
ancient narrative is broken, and the latter part is lost, 
leaving us to divine as we may the future of the ill- 
starred colony. That it did not long survive is cer- 
tain. The King, in great need of Roberval, sent 
Cartier to bring him home, and this voyage seems to 
have taken place in the summer of 1543.2 It is said 
that, in after years, the Viceroy essayed to repossess 

1 Thevet MS. (1586), 2 Lescarbot (1612), I. 416. 



1543.] DEATH OF ROBERVAL. 231 

himself of his Transatlantic domain, and lost his life 
in the attempted The vet, on the other hand, with 
ample means of learning the truth, affirms that 
Roberval was slain at night, near the Church of the 
Innocents, in the heart of Paris. 

With him closes the prelude of the French- Ameri- 
can drama. Tempestuous years and a reign of blood 
and fire were in store for France. The religious wars 
begot the hapless colony of Florida, but for more 
than half a century they left New France a desert. 
Order rose at length out of the sanguinary chaos ; the 
zeal of discovery and the spirit of commercial enter- 
prise once more awoke, wliile, closely following, more 
potent than they, moved the black-robed forces of 
the Roman Catholic reaction. 

1 Le Clerc, ^tahlissement de la Foy, 1. 14. 



Note. — The Voyage of Verrazzano. The narrative of the voyage 
of Verrazzano is contained in a letter from him, dated at Dieppe, 8 July, 
1524. The original letter does not exist. An Italian translation was 
printed by Ramusio in 1556, and there is another translation in the 
Magliabecchian Library at Florence. This last is accompanied by a 
letter concerning the voyage from one Fernando Carli, dated at Lyons, 
4 August, 1524. Hierouimo da Verrazzano, brother of the navigator, 
made in 1529 a large map of the world, which is preserved in the Col- 
lege of the Propaganda at Rome. The discoveries of Verrazzano are 
laid down upon it, and the North American part bears the inscription, 
" Verazzana sive nova Gallia quale discopri 5 anni fa Giovanni da Ver- 
azzano florentino per ordine e Comandamento del Cristianissimo Re 
di Francia." A copper globe made by Euphrosynus Ulpius, in 1542, 
also affirms the discovery of Verrazzano, and gives his name to a part 
of the continent, while other contemporary maps, notably that of Vis- 
conte di Maiollo, 1527, also contain traces of his voyage. Ramusio 
says that he had conversed with many persons who knew Verrazzano, 



232 EAELY FRENCH ADYENTURE. [1542. 

and he prints a paper called Discorso d' un gran Capitano di Mare 
Francese, in which the voyage of Verrazzano is mentioned by a con- 
temporary navigator of Dieppe. 

Various Spanish and Portuguese documents attest the exploits of 
Verrazzano as a corsair, and a letter of Silveira, Portuguese ambassa- 
dor to France, shows that in the spring of 1 523 he had announced his 
purpose of a voyage to "Cathay." On the eleventh of May, 1526, he 
gave a power of attorney to his brother Hieronimo, the maker of the 
map, and this paper still exists, bearing his autograph. Various other 
original papers relating to him are extant, one of the most curious 
being that of the judge of Cadiz, testifying to his capture and his exe- 
cution at Puerto del Pico. None of the early writers question the 
reality of the voyage. Among those who affirm it may be mentioned 
Annibal Caro, 1537 ; Belleforest, 1570; Herrera, 1601 ; Wytfleit, 1603 ; 
De Laet, 1603; Lescarbot, 1612. 

In 1864, Mr. Buckingham Smith questioned the genuineness of the 
Verrazzano letter in a pamphlet called, An Inquiry into the Authenticity 
of Documents concerning a Discovery in North America claimed to have 
been made by Verrazzano. Mr. J. Carson Brevoort answered him, in a 
book entitled Verrazzano the Navigator. Mr. Henry C. Murphy fol- 
lowed with another book. The Voyage of Verrazzano, in which he en- 
deavored at great length to prove that the evidence concerning the 
voyage was fabricated. Mr. Henry Harrisse gave a cautious and 
qualified support to his views in the Revue Critique. Mr. Major an- 
swered them in the London Geographical Magazine, and Mr. De Costa 
made an elaborate and effective reply in his work called Verrazzano the 
Explorer. An Italian writer, Signor Desimoni, has added some cogent 
facts in support of the authenticity of the documents. A careful ex- 
amination of these various writings convinces me that the evidence in 
favor of the voyage of Verrazzano is far stronger than the evidence 
against it. Abbe Verreau found a contemporary document in tho 
Bibliotheque Nationale, in which it is mentioned that the " memoirs " 
of Verrazzano were then in possession of ChatiUon (Admiral Coligny). 
See Report 07i Canadian Archives, 1874, p. 190. 



CHAPTER II. 

1542-1604. 
LA ROCHE. — CHAMPLAIN. — DE MONTS. 

French Fishermen and Fur-Traders. — La Roche. — The Con« 
viCTS OF Sable Island. — Tadoussac. — Samuel de Cham- 
plain. — Visits the West Indies and Mexico. — Explores the 
St. Lawrence. — De Monts. — His Acadian Schemes. 

Years rolled on. France, long tossed among the 
surges of civil commotion, plunged at last into a gulf 
of fratricidal war. Blazing hamlets, sacked cities, 
fields steaming with slaughter, profaned altars, and 
ravished maidens, marked the track of the tornado. 
There was little room for schemes of foreign enter- 
prise. Yet, far aloof from siege and battle, the fisher- 
men of the western ports still plied their craft on 
the Banks of Newfoundland. Humanity, morality, 
decency, might be forgotten, but codfish must still 
be had for the use of the faithful in Lent and on fast 
days. Still the wandering Esquimaux saw the 
Norman and Breton sails hovering around some 
lonely headland, or anchored in fleets in the harbor 
of St. John; and still, through salt spray and driv- 
ing mist, the fishermen dragged up the riches of 
the sea. 



234 LA ROCHE. — CHAMPLAIN.— DE MONTS. [1586, 

In January and February, 1545, about two vessels 
a day sailed from French ports for Newfoundland.^ 
In 1565, Pedro Menendez complains that the French 
"rule despotically" in those parts. In 1578, there 
were a hundred and fifty French fisliing-vessels 
there, besides two hundred of other nations, Span- 
ish, Portuguese, and English. Added to these 
were twenty or thirty Biscayan whalers. ^ In 1607, 
there was an old French fisherman at Canseau who 
had voyaged to these seas for forty-two successive 
years. ^ 

But if the wilderness of ocean had its treasures, so 
too had the wilderness of woods. It needed but a 
few knives, beads, and trinkets, and the Indians 
would throng to the shore burdened with the spoils 
of their winter hunting. Fishermen threw up their 
old vocation for the more lucrative trade in bear-skins 
and beaver-skins. They built rude huts along the 
shores of Anticosti, where, at that day, the bison, it 
is said, could be seen wallowing in the sands.* They 
outraged the Indians; they quarrelled with each 

1 Gosselin, Documents Authentiques. 

2 Hakluyt, III. 132. Comp. Pinkerton, Voyages, XII. 174, and 
Thevet MS. (1586). 

8 Lescarbot, II. 605. Purchas's date is wrong. 

* Thevet MS. (1586). Thevet says that he had himself seen them. 
Perhaps he confounds them with the moose. 

In 1565, and for some years previous, bison-skins were brought by 
the Indians down the Potomac, and thence carried along-shore in 
canoes to the French about the Gulf of St. Lawrence. During two 
years, six thousand skins were tlius obtained. Letters of Pedro 
Menendez to Philip II., MS. 

On the fur-trade, see Hakluyt, III. 187, 193, 233, 292, etc. 



1588.] MARQUIS DE LA ROCHE. 235 

other; and tliis infancy of the Canadian fur- trade 
showed rich promise of the disorders which marked 
its liper growth. Others, meanwhile, were ranging 
the gulf in search of wah'us tusks; and, the year 
after the battle of Ivry, St. Malo sent out a fleet of 
small craft in quest of this new prize. 

In all the western seaports, merchants and adven- 
tm^ers turned their eyes towards America; not, like 
the Spaniards, seeking treasures of silver and gold, 
but the more modest gains of codfish and train-oil, 
beaver-skins and marine ivory. St. Malo was con- 
spicuous above them all. The rugged Bretons loved 
the perils of the sea, and saw with a jealous eye every 
attempt to shackle their activity on this its favorite 
field. When in 1588 Jacques Noel and Estienne 
Chaton — the former a nephew of Cartier and the 
latter pretending to be so — gained a monopoly of 
the American fur-trade for twelve years, such a 
clamor arose within the walls of St. Malo that the 
obnoxious grant was promptly revoked. ^ 

But soon a power was in the field against which 
all St. Malo might clamor in vain. A Catholic noble- 
man of Brittany, the Marquis de la Roche, bargained 
with the King to colonize New France. On his 
part, he was to receive a monopoly of the trade, and 
a profusion of worthless titles and empty privileges. 
He was declared Lieutenant-General of Canada, 
Hochelaga, Newfoundland, Labrador, and the coun- 

^ Lescarbot, I. 418. Compare Rame, Documents Inedits (1865). la 
Hakluyt are two letters of Jacques Noel. 



236 LA ROCHE. — CHAMPLAIN. — DE MONTS. [1588. 

tries adjacent, with sovereign power within his vast 
and ill-defined domain. He could levy troops, declare 
war and peace, make laws, punish or pardon at vnll, 
build cities, forts, and castles, and grant out lands in 
fiefs, seigniories, counties, viscounties, and baronies. ^ 
Thus was effete and cumbrous feudalism to make a 
lodgement in the New World. It was a scheme of 
high-sounding promise, but in performance less than 
contemptible. La Roche ransacked the prisons, 
and, gathering thence a gang of thieves and despera- 
does, embarked them in a small vessel, and set sail 
to plant Christianity and civilization in the West. 
Suns rose and set, and the wretched bark, deep 
freighted with brutality and vice, held on her 
course. She was so small that the convicts, leaning 
over her side, could wash their hands in the 
water. 2 At length, on the gray horizon they 
descried a long, gray line of ridgy sand. It was 
Sable Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia. A 
wreck lay stranded on the beach, and the surf 
broke ominously over the long, submerged arms of 
sand, stretched far out into the sea on the right 
hand and on the left. 

Here La Roche landed the convicts, forty in num- 

1 Lettres Patenies pourle Sieur de la Roche, 12 Jan., 1598 ; Lescarbot, 
I. 422; J^dits et Ordonnances (Quebec, 1804), II. 4. La Eoche had re- 
ceived a similar commission in 1577 and 1578, but seems to have made 
no use of it. Ram^, Documents Inedits (1867). There is evidence that, 
as early as 1564, the King designed an expedition to colonize Canada. 
See Gosselin, Documents Inedits pouv servir a I'Histoire de la Marine 
Normande. 

« Lescarbot, L 421. 



1603.] THE CONVICTS OF SABLE ISLAND. 237 

ber, wliile, with his more trusty followers, he sailed 
to explore the neighboring coasts, and choose a site 
for the capital of liis new dominion, to which, in due 
time, he proposed to remove the prisoners. But sud- 
denly a tempest from the west assailed him. The 
frail vessel was forced to run before the gale, which, 
howling on her track, drove her off the coast, and 
chased her back towards France. 

Meanwhile the convicts watched in suspense for 
the returning sail. Days passed, weeks passed, and 
still they strained their eyes in vain across the waste 
of ocean. La Roche had left them to their fate. 
Rueful and desperate, they wandered among the sand- 
hills, through the stunted whortleberry bushes, the 
rank sand-grass, and the tangled cranberry vines 
which filled the hollows. Not a tree was to be seen; 
but they built huts of the fragments of the wreck. 
For food they caught fish in the surrounding sea, and 
hunted the cattle which i^an wild about the island, — 
sprung, perhaps, from those left here eighty years 
before by the Baron de L^ry.^ They killed seals, 
trapped black foxes, and clothed themselves in their 
skins. Their native instincts clung to them in their 
exile. As if not content with inevitable miseries, 
they quarrelled and murdered one another. Season 
after season dragged on. Five years elapsed, and, of 
the forty, only twelve were left alive. Sand, sea, 

^ Lescarbot, I. 22. Compare De Laet, Lib. II. c. 4. Charlevoix 
and Champlain say that they escaped from the wreck of a Spanish 
vessel ; Purchas, that thej^ were left by the Portuguese. 



238 LA ROCHE. — CHAMPLAIK — DE MONTS. [1608. 

and sky, — there was little else around tliem ; though, 
to break the dead monotony, the walrus would some- 
times rear his half -human face and glistening sides 
on the reefs and sand-bars. At length, on the far 
verge of the watery desert, they descried a sail. She 
stood on towards the island; a boat's crew landed on 
the beach, and the exiles were once more among their 
countrymen. 

When La Roche returned to France, the fate of 
his followers sat heavy on his mind. But the day of 
Ms prosperity was gone. A host of enemies rose 
against him and his privileges, and it is said that the 
Due de Mercoeur seized him and threw him into 
prison. In time, however, he gained a hearing of 
the King; and the Norman pilot, Chefdh6tel, was 
despatched to bring the outcasts home. 

He reached Sable Island in September, 1603, and 
brought back to France eleven survivors, whose 
names are still preserved. ^ When they arrived, 
Henry the Fourth summoned them into his presence. 
They stood before him, says an old writer, like river- 
gods of yore ; ^ for from head to foot they v/ere clothed 
in shaggy skins, and beards of prodigious length 
hung from their swarthy faces. They had accumu- 
lated, on their island, a quantity of valuable furs. 
Of these Chef dhotel had robbed them ; but the pilot 
was forced to disgorge his prey, and, with the aid of 
a bounty from the King, they were enabled to embark 

1 Gosselin, Documents Authentiques (Rouen, 1876). 

2 Charlevoix, I. 110; Gu^rin, Navigateurs Fra7igais, 210. 



1603.] PONTGRAYE AND CIIAUVIN. 239 

on their own account in the Canadian trade. ^ To 
their leader, fortune was less kind. Broken by dis- 
aster and imprisonment, La Roche died miserably. 

In the mean time, on the ruin of his enterprise, a 
new one had been begun. Pontgrav^, a merchant of 
St. Malo, leagued himself with Chauvin, a captain of 
the navy, who had influence at court. A patent was 
granted to them, with the condition that they should 
colonize the country. But their only thought was to 
enrich themselves. 

At Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenay, under 
the shadow of savage and inaccessible rocks, feathered 
with pines, firs, and birch-trees, they built a cluster 
of wooden huts and store-houses. Here they left 
sixteen men to gather the expected harvest of furs. 
Before the winter was over, several of them were 
dead, and the rest scattered through the woods, liv- 
ing on the charity of the Indians. ^ 

But a new era had dawned on France. Exhausted 
with thirty years of conflict, she had sunk at last to 
a repose, uneasy and disturbed, yet the harbinger of 

1 Purchas, IV. 1807. Before me are several curious papers copied 
from the archives of the Palais de Justice of Rouen. One of these is 
entitled Copie d'un Arret rendu contre Chefdhostel, 27 Nov., 1603. It 
orders him to deliver to the eleven men whom he had just brought 
home two thirds of their furs. Another, dated 6 March, 1598, relates 
to the criminals whom La Roche was empowered to take from the 
prisons. A third, dated 18 May, 1598, orders that one of these crimi- 
nals, Francois de Bauldre, convicted of highway robbery, shall not be 
allowed to go to Canada, but shall be forthwith beheaded. These pa- 
pers set at rest the disputed question of the date of La Roche's voyage. 
I owe them to the kindness of M. Gabriel Gravier, of Rouen. 

2 Champlain (1632), 34; Estancelin, 96. . 



240 LA ROCHE. — CHAMPLAm. — DE MONTS. [1603. 

recovery. The rugged soldier whom, for the weal 
of France and of mankind, Providence had cast to 
the troubled surface of affairs, was throned in the 
Louvre, composing the strife of factions and the 
quarrels of his mistresses. The bear-hunting prince 
of the Pyrenees wore the crown of France; and to 
this day, as one gazes on the time-worn front of the 
Tuileries, above all other memories rises the small, 
strong finger, the brow wrinkled with cares of love 
and war, the bristling moustache, the grizzled beard, 
the bold, vigorous, and withal somewhat odd features 
of the mountaineer of B^arn. To few has human 
liberty owed so deep a gratitude or so deep a grudge. 
He cared little for creeds or dogmas. Impressible, 
quick in sjrmpathy, his grim lip lighted often with a 
smile, and liis war-worn cheek was no stranger to a 
tear. He forgave his enemies and forgot his friends. 
Many loved him ; none but fools trusted him. Min- 
gled of mortal good and ill, frailty and force, of all 
the kings who for two centuries and more sat on the 
throne of France Henry the Fourth alone was a 
man. 

Art, industry, and commerce, so long crushed and 
overborne, were stirring into renewed life, and a 
crowd of adventurous men, nurtured in war and 
incapable of repose, must seek employment for their 
restless energies in fields of peaceful enterprise. 

Two small, quaint vessels, not larger than the fish- 
ing-craft of Gloucester and Marblehead, — one was 
of twelve, the other of fifteen tons, — held their way 



1598.] SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIK 241 

across the Atlantic, passed the tempestuous head- 
lands of Newfoundland and the St. Lawrence, and, 
with adventurous knight-errantry, glided deep into 
the heart of the Canadian wilderness. On board of 
one of them was the Breton merchant, Pontgrav^, 
and mth him a man of spirit widely different, a 
Catholic of good family, — Samuel de Champlain, 
born in 1567 at the small seaport of Brouage on the 
Bay of Biscay. His father was a captain in the 
royal navy, where he himself seems also to have 
served, though during the war he had fought for the 
King in Brittany, under the banners of D'Aumont, 
St. Luc, and Brissac. His purse was small, his 
merit great; and Henry the Fourth out of his own 
slender revenues had given him a pension to maintain 
him near his person. But rest was penance to him. 
The war in Brittany was over. The rebellious Due 
de Mercosur was reduced to obedience, and the royal 
army disbanded. Champlain, his occupation gone, 
conceived a design consonant with his adventurous 
nature. He would visit the West Indies, and bring 
back to the King a report of those regions of mystery 
whence Spanish jealousy excluded foreigners, and 
where every intruding Frenchman was threatened 
with death. Here much knowledge was to be won 
and much peril to be met. The joint attraction was 
resistless. 

The Spaniards, allies of the vanquished Leaguers, 
were about to evacuate Blavet, their last stronghold 
in Brittany. Thither Champlain repaired; and here 

16 



242 LA ROCHE, — CHAMPLAIN. — DE MONTS. [1598. 

he found an uncle, who had charge of the French 
fleet destined to take on board the Spanish garrison. 
Champlain embarked with them, and, reaching Cadiz, 
succeeded, with the aid of his relative, who had just 
accepted the post of Pilot-General of the Spanish 
marine, in gaining command of one of the ships about 
to sail for the West Indies under Don Francisco 
Colombo. 

At Dieppe there is a curious old manuscript, in 
clear, decisive, and somewhat formal handwriting of 
the sixteenth century, garnished with sixty-one 
colored pictures, in a style of art which a child of ten 
might emulate. Here one may see ports, harbors, 
islands, and rivers, adorned with portraitures of 
birds, beasts, and fishes thereto pertaining. Here 
are Indian feasts and dances; Indians flogged by 
priests for not going to mass; Indians burned alive 
for heresy, six in one fire ; Indians working the silver 
mines. Here, too, are descriptions of natural objects, 
each with its illustrative sketch, some drawn from 
life and some from memory, — as, for example, a 
chameleon with two legs ; others from hearsay, among 
which is the portrait of the griffin said to haunt cer- 
tain districts of Mexico, — a monster with the wings 
of a bat, the head of an eagle, and the tail of an 
alligator. 

This is Champlain's journal, written and illustrated 
by his own hand, in that defiance of perspective and 
absolute independence of the canons of art which 
mark the earliest efforts of the pencil. 



1600-1603.J CHAMPLAIN IN" THE WEST INDIES. 243 

A true hero, after the chivalrous mediseval type, 
his character was dashed largely with the spirit of 
romance. Though earnest, sagacious, and penetrat- 
ing, he leaned to the marvellous ; and the faith which 
was the life of his hard career was somewhat prone 
to overstep the bounds of reason and invade the 
domain of fancy. Hence the erratic character of 
some of his exploits, and hence his simple faith in 
the Mexican griffin. 

His West-Indian adventure occupied him more 
than tAvo years. He visited the principal ports of the 
islands, made plans and sketches of them all, after 
liis fashion, and then, landing at Vera Cruz, jour- 
neyed inland to the city of Mexico. On his return 
he made his way to Panama. Here, more than two 
centuries and a half ago, his bold and active mind 
conceived the plan of a ship-canal across the isthmus, 
"by which, '^ he says, "the voyage to the South Sea 
would be shortened by more than fifteen hundred 
leagues.'*^ 

1 " . . . Ton accourciroit par ainsj le chemin de plus de 1500 Heues, 
et depuis Panama jusques au destroit de Magellan se seroit une isle, et 
de Panama jusques aux Terres Neufves une autre isle," etc. — Cham- 
plain, Bref Discours. A Biscayan pilot had before suggested the plan 
to the Spanish government; but Philip the Second, probably in the 
interest of certain monopolies, forbade the subject to be again brought 
forward on pain of death. 

The journal is entitled, "Bref Discours des Choses plus Eemar- 
quables que Samuel Champlain de Brouage a recognues aux Indes Occi- 
dentales." The original manuscript, in Champlain's handwriting, is, 
or was, in the hands of M. Fe'ret of Dieppe, a collateral descendant of 
the writer's patron, the Commander de Chastes. It consists of a hun^ 



244 LA ROCHE, —CHAMPLAIN. — DE MONTS. [1603. 

On reaching France he repaired to court, and it 
may have been at this time that a royal patent raised 
him to the rank of the untitled nobility. He soon 
wearied of the antechambers of the Louvre. It was 
here, however, that his destiny awaited him, and the 
work of his life was unfolded. Aymar de Chastes, 
Commander of the Order of St. John and Governor 
of Dieppe, a gray-haired veteran of the civil wars, 
wished to mark his closing days mth some notable 
achievement for France and the Church. To no man 
was the King more deeply indebted. In his darkest 
hour, when the hosts of the League were gathering 
round him, when friends were falling off, and the 
Parisians, exulting in his certain ruin, were hiring 
the windows of the Rue St. Antoine to see him led 
to the Bastille, De Chastes, without condition or 
reserve, gave up to him the town and castle of Dieppe. 
Thus he was enabled to fight beneath its walls the 
battle of Arques, the first in the series of successes 
which secured his triumph; and he had been heard to 
say that to this friend in his adversity he owed his 
own salvation and that of France. 

De Chastes was one of those men who, amid the 
strife of factions and rage of rival fanaticisms, make 
reason and patriotism their watchwords, and stand 
on the firm ground of a strong and resolute modera- 

dred and fifteen small quarto pages. I am indebted to M. Jacques 
Viger for the use of his copy. 

A translation of it was published in 1859 by the Hakluyt Society, 
with notes and a biographical notice by no means remarkable for 
accuracy. 



1603.] DE CHASTES AND CIIAMPLAIK 245 

tion. He had resisted the madness of Leaguer and 
Huguenot alike; yet, though a foe of the League, 
the old soldier was a devout Catholic, and it seemed 
in his eyes a noble consummation of his life to plant 
the cross and the fleur-de-lis in the wilderness of 
New France. Chauvin had just died, after wasting 
the lives of a score or more of men in a second and a 
third attempt to establish the fur-trade at Tadoussac. 
De Chastes came to court to beg a patent of Henry 
the Fourth; "and," says liis friend Champlain, 
"though his head was crowned with gray hairs as 
with years, he resolved to proceed to New France in 
person, and dedicate the rest of his days to the ser- 
vice of God and his King."^ 

The patent, costing nothing, was readily granted ; 
and De Chastes, to meet the expenses of the enter- 
prise, and forestall the jealousies which his monopoly 
would awaken among the keen merchants of the 
western ports, formed a company with the more 
prominent of them. Pontgrav^, who had some 
knowledge of the country, was chosen to make a 
preliminary exploration. 

This was the time when Champlain, fresh from the 
West Indies, appeared at court. De Chastes knew 
him well. Young, ardent, yet ripe in experience, a 
skilful seaman and a practised soldier, he above all 
others was a man for the enterprise. He had many 
conferences with the veteran, under whom he had 
served in the royal fleet off the coast of Brittany. 

1 On De Chastes, Vitet, Histoire de Dieppe, c. 19, 20, 21. 



246 LA EOCHE.— CHAMPLAIK — DE MONTS. [1603. 

De Cliastes urged him to accept a post in his new 
company; and Champlain, nothing loath, consented, 
provided always that permission should be had from 
the King, "to whom," he says, "I was bound no less 
by birth than by the pension with which his Majesty 
honored me." To the King, therefore, De Chastes 
repaired. The needful consent was gained, and, 
armed with a letter to Pontgrav^, Champlain set out 
for Honfleur. Here he found his destined com- 
panion, and embarking with him, as we have seen, 
they spread their sails for the west. 

Like specks on the broad bosom of the waters, tbe 
two pygmy vessels held their course up the lonely 
St. Lawrence. They passed abandoned Tadoussac, 
the chamiel of Orleans, and the gleaming cataract of 
Montmorenci ; the tenantless rock of Quebec, the 
wide Lake of St. Peter and its crowded archipelago, 
till now the mountain reared before them its rounded 
shoulder above the forest-plain of Montreal. All 
was solitude. Hochelaga had vanished; and of the 
savage population that Cartier had found here, sixty- 
eight years before, no trace remained. In its place 
were a few wandering Algonquins, of different tongue 
and lineage. In a skiff, with a few Indians, Cham- 
plain essayed to pass the rapids of St. Louis. Oars, 
paddles, and poles alike proved vain against the 
foaming surges, and he was forced to return. On 
the deck of his vessel, the Indians drew rude plans 
of the river above, with its chain of rapids, its lakes 
and cataracts; and the baffled explorer turned his 



1604.] SCHEMES OF DE MONTS. 247 

prow homeward, the objects of his mission accom- 
plished, but his own adventurous curiosity unsa,ted. 
When the voyagers reached Havre de Grace, a 
grievous blow awaited them. The Commander de 
Chastes was dead.^ 

His mantle fell upon Pierre du Guast, Sieur de 
Monts, gentleman in ordinary of the King's chamber, 
and Governor of Pons. Undaunted by the fate of 
La Roche, this nobleman petitioned the king for leave 
to colonize La Cadie, or Acadie,^ a region defined as 
extending from the fortieth to the forty-sixth degree 
of north latitude, or from Pliiladelphia to beyond 
Montreal. The King's minister, Sully, as he himself 
tells us, opposed the plan, on the ground that the 
colonization of this northern wilderness would never 

1 Cbamplain, Des Sauvages (1604). Champlain's Indian informants 
gave him very confused accounts. They indicated the Falls of Niagara 
as a mere " rapid." They are laid down, however, in Champlain's great 
map of 1 632 with the following note : " Sault d'eau au bout du Sault 
[Lac] Sainct Louis fort hault ou plusieurs sortes de poissons descendans 
s'estourdissent." 

2 This name is not found in any earlier public document. It was 
afterwards restricted to the peninsula of Nova Scotia, but the dispute 
concerning the limits of Acadia was a proximate cause of the war of 
1755. 

The word is said to be derived from the Indian AquoddiaiiJce, or 
Aquoddie, supposed to mean the fish called a pollock. The Bay of 
Passamaquoddy, " Great Pollock Water," if Ave^may accept the same 
authority, derives its name from the same origin. Potter in Historical 
Magazine, I. 84. This derivation is doubtful. The Micmac word, 
Quoddy, Kady, or Cadie, means simply a place or region, and is prop- 
erly used in conjunction with some other noun ; as, for example, Kata- 
hady, the Place of Eels, Sunahady (Sunacadie), the Place of Cranberries, 
Pestumoquoddy (Passamaquoddy), the Place of Pollocks. Dawson and 
Band, in Canadian Antiquarian and Numismatic Journal. 



248 LA ROCHE. — CHAMPLAIlSr.—DE MONTS. [1604 

repay the outlay; but De Monts gained his pointo 
He was made Lieutenant-General in Acadia, with 
viceregal powers ; and withered Feudalism, with her 
antique forms and tinselled follies, was again to seek 
a new home among the rocks and pine-trees of Noya 
Scotia. The foundation of the enterprise was a 
monopoly of the fur-trade, and in its favor all past 
grants were unceremoniously annulled. St. Malo, 
Rouen, Dieppe, and Rochelle greeted the announce- 
ment with unavailing outcries. Patents granted 
and revoked, monopolies decreed and extinguished, 
had involved the unhappy traders in ceaseless em- 
barrassment. De Monts, however, preserved De 
Chastes's old company, and enlarged it, — thus 
making the chief malcontents sharers in his ex- 
clusive rights, and converting them from enemies 
into partners. 

A clause in his commission empowered him to 
impress idlers and vagabonds as material for his 
colony, — an ominous provision of which he largely 
availed himself. His company was strangely incon- 
gruous. The best and the meanest of France were 
crowded together in his two ships. Here were 
thieves and ruffians dragged on board by force ; and 
here were many volunteers of condition and character, 
with Baron de Poutrincourt and the indefatigable 
Champlain. Here, too, were Catholic priests and 
Huguenot ministers; for, though De Monts Avas a 
Calvinist, the Church, as usual, displayed her banner 
in the van of the enterprise, and he was forced to 



1604.J DE MONTS. 249 

promise that he would cause the Indians to be 
instructed in the dogmas of Rome.^ 

^ Articles proposez au Roy par le Steur de Monts; Commissions du 
Roy et de Monseigneur I' Admiral au Sieur de Monts; Defenses du Roy 
Premieres et Secondes, a tons ses subjects, autres que le Sieur de Monts, 
etc. de traffiquer, etc. ; Declaration du Roy ; Extraict des Registres de 
Parlement; Remontrance faict au Roy par le Sieur de Monts; etc. 



CHAPTER III. 

1604, 1605. 

ACADIA OCCUPIED. 

Catholic and Calvinist. — The Lost Priest. — St. Croix. — 
Winter Miseries. — Champlain on the Coast of New 
England. — Port Royal. 

De Monts, with one of his vessels, sailed from 
Havre de Grace on the seventh of April, 1604. 
Pontgrave, with stores for the colony, was to follow 
in a few days. 

Scarcely were they at sea, when ministers and 
priests fell first to discussion, then to quarrelling, 
then to blows. " I have seen our cure and the min- 
ister," says Champlain, "fall to with their fists on 
questions of faith. I cannot say which had the more 
pluck, or which hit the harder ; but I know that the 
minister sometimes complained to the Sieur de Monts 
that he had been beaten. This was their way of 
settling points of controversy. I leave you to judge 
if it was a pleasant thing to see." ^ 

Sagard, the Franciscan friar, relates with horror, 
that, after their destination was reached, a priest and 
a minister happening to die at the same time, the 

1 Champlain (1632), 46, 



1604.] EXPLORATIONS. 251 

crew buried them both in one grave, to see if they 
would lie peaceably together.^ 

De Monts, who had been to the St. Lawrence 
with Chauvin, and learned to dread its rigorous 
wdnters, steered for a more southern, and, as he 
flattered himself, a milder region. The first land 
seen was Cap la Heve, on the southern coast of Nova 
Scotia. Four days later, they entered a small bay, 
where, to their surprise, they saw a vessel lying at 
anchor. Here was a piece of good luck. The 
stranger was a fur-trader, pursuing her traffic in 
defiance, or more probably in ignorance, of De 
Monts 's monopoly. The latter, as empowered by his 
patent, made prize of ship and cargo, consoling the 
commander, one Rossignol, by giving his name to 
the scene of his misfortune. It is now called Liver- 
pool Harbor. 

In an adjacent harbor, called by them Port Mouton, 
because a sheep here leaped overboard, they waited 
nearly a month for Pontgravd's store-ship. At 
length, to their great relief, she appeared, laden with 
the spoils of four Basque fur-traders, captured at 
Canseau. The supplies delivered, Pontgravd sailed 
for Tadoussac to trade with the Indians, while De 
Monts, followed by his prize, proceeded on his 
voyage. 

He doubled Cape Sable, and entered St. Mary's 
Bay, where he lay two weeks, sending boats' crews 
to explore the adjacent coasts. A party one day 

1 Sagard, Histoire du Canada, 9. 



252 ACADIA OCCUPIED. [1604 

went on shore to stroll through the forest, and 
among them was Nicolas Aubry, a priest from Paris, 
who, tiring of the scholastic haunts of the Rue de la 
Sorbonne and the Rue d'Enfer, had persisted, despite 
the remonstrance of his friends, in joining the expe- 
dition. Thirsty with a long walk, under the sun of 
June, through the tangled and rock-encumbered 
woods, he stopped to drink at a brook, laying his 
sword beside him on the grass. On rejoining his 
companions, he found that he had forgotten it; and 
turning back in search of it, more skilled in the 
devious windings of the Quartier Latin than in the 
intricacies of the Acadian forest, he soon lost his 
way. His comrades, alarmed, waited for a time, and 
then ranged the woods, shouting his name to the 
echoing solitudes. Trumpets were sounded, and 
cannon fired from the ships, but the priest did not 
appear. All now looked askance on a certain Hugue- 
not, with whom Aubry had often quarrelled on ques- 
tions of faith, and who was now accused of having 
killed him. In vain he denied the charge. Aubry 
was given up for dead, and the sliip sailed from St. 
Mary's Bay; while the wretched priest roamed to 
and fro, famished and despairing, or, couched on the 
rocky soil, in the troubled sleep of exhaustion, 
dreamed, perhaps, as the wind swept moaning through 
the pines, that he heard once more the organ roll 
through the columned arches of Sainte Genevieve. 

The voyagers proceeded to explore the Bay of 
Fundy, which De Monts called Iwa Baye Frangoise. 



1604.] ANNAPOLIS. -ST. CROIX. 253 

Their first notable discovery was that of Annapolis 
Harbor. A small inlet invited them. They entered, 
when suddenly the narrow strait dilated into a broad 
and tranquil basin, compassed by sunny hills, wrapped 
in woodland verdure, and alive with waterfalls. 
Poutrincourt was delighted with the scene. The 
fancy seized him of removing thither from France 
with his family; and, to this end, he asked a grant 
of the place from De Monts, who by his patent had 
nearly half the continent in his gift. The grant was 
made, and Poutrincourt called his new domain Port 
Royal. 

Thence they sailed round the head of the Bay of 
Fundy, coasted its northern shore, visited and named 
the river St. John, and anchored at last in Passama- 
quoddy Bay. 

The untiring Champlain, exploring, surveying, 
sounding, had made charts of all the principal roads 
and harbors ;i and now, pursuing his research, he 
entered a river which he calls La Riviere des 
Etechemins, from the name of the tribe of whom the 
present Passamaquoddy Indians are descendants. 
Near its mouth he found an islet, fenced round with 
rocks and shoals, and called it St. Croix, a name now 
borne by the river itself. With singular infelicity 
this spot was chosen as the site of the new colony. 
It commanded the river, and was well fitted for 
defence : these were its only merits ; yet cannon were 
landed on it, a battery was planted on a detached 

1 See Champlain, Voyages (1613), where the charts are published. 



254 ACADIA OCCUPIED. [1604. 

rock at one end, and a fort "begun on a rising ground 
at the other. 1 

At St. Mary's Bay the voyagers thought they had 
found traces of iron and silver ; and Champdore, the 
pilot, was now sent back to pursue the search. As 
he and his men lay at anchor, fishing, not far from 
land, one of them heard a strange sound, like a weak 
human voice,- and, looking towards the shore, they 
saw a small black object in motion, apparently a hat 
waved on the end of a stick. Rowing in haste to the 
spot, they found the priest Aubry. For sixteen days 
he had wandered in the woods, sustaining life on 
berries and wild fruits i and when, haggard and ema- 
ciated, a shadow of his former self, Champdor^ carried 
him back to St. Croix, he was greeted as a man risen 
from the grave. 

In 1783 the river St. Croix, by treaty, was made 
the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick. 
But which was the true St. Croix? In 1798, the 
point was settled. De Monts's island was found; 
and, painfully searching among the sand, the sedge, 
and the matted whortleberry bushes, the commis- 
sioners could trace the foundations of buildings long 
crumbled into dust;^ for the wilderness had resumed 
its sway, and silence and solitude brooded once more 
over this ancient resting-place of civilization. 

But while the commissioner bends over a moss- 
grown stone, it is for us to trace back the dim vista 

1 Lescarbot, Hist, de la Nouvelle France (1612), II. 461. 
* Holmes, ^nna/s, (1829,) I. 122, note 1. 



1604.] ST. CROIX. 255 

of the centuries to the life, the zeal, the energy, of 
which this stone is the poor memorial. The rock- 
fenced islet was covered with cedars, and when the 
tide was out the shoals around were dark with the 
swash of sea-weed, where, in their leisure moments, 
the Frenchmen, we are told, amused themselves with 
detaching the limpets from the stones, as a savory 
addition to their fare. But there was little leisure 
at St. Croix. Soldiers, sailors, and artisans betook 
themselves to their task. Before the winter closed 
in, the northern end of the island was covered with 
buildings, surrounding a square, where a solitary tree 
had been left standing. On the right was a spacious 
house, well built, and surmounted by one of those 
enormous roofs characteristic of the time. This was 
the lodging of De Monts. Behind it, and near the 
water, was a long, covered gallery, for labor or amuse- 
ment in foul weather. Champlain and the Sieur 
d'Orville, aided by the servants of the latter, built a 
house for themselves nearly opposite that of De 
Monts ; and the remainder of the square was occupied 
by storehouses, a magazine, workshops, lodgings for 
gentlemen and artisans, and a barrack for the Swiss 
soldiers, the whole enclosed with a palisade. Adja- 
cent there was an attempt at a garden, under the 
auspices of Champlain; but nothing would grow in 
the sandy soil. There was a cemetery, too, and a 
small rustic chapel on a projecting point of rock. 
Such was the "Habitation de I'lsle Saincte-Croix, " 
as set forth by Champlain in quaint plans and draw- 



256 ACADIA OCCUPIED. [1604. 

ings, in that musty little quarto of 1613, sold by 
Jean Berjon, at the sign of the Flying Horse, Rue St. 
Jean de Beauvais. 

Their labors over, Poutrincourt set sail for France, 
proposing to return and take possession of his domain 
of Port Royal. Seventy-nine men remained at Stc 
Croix. Here was De Monts, feudal lord of half a 
continent in virtue of two potent syllables, "Henri,'* 
scrawled on parchment by the rugged hand of the 
Bearnais. Here were gentlemen of birth and breed- 
ing, Champlain, D'Orville, Beaumont, Sourin, La 
Motte, Boulay, and Fougeray; here also were the 
pugnacious cure, and his fellow priests, with the 
Huguenot ministers, objects of their unceasing ire. 
The rest were laborers, artisans, and soldiers, all in 
the pay of the company, and some of them forced 
into its service. 

Poutrincourt's receding sails vanished between the 
water and the sky. The exiles were left to their 
solitude. From the Spanish settlements northward 
to the pole, there was no domestic hearth, no lodge- 
ment of civilized men, save one weak band of French- 
men, clinging, as it were for life, to the fringe of the 
vast and savage continent. The gray and sullen 
autumn sank upon the waste, and the bleak wind 
howled down the St. Croix, and swept the forest 
bare. Then the whirling snow powdered the vast 
sweep of desolate woodland, and shrouded in white 
the gloomy green of pine-clad mountains. Ice in 
sheets, or broken masses, swept by their island with 



1605.] SEVERITY OF THE WINTER. 257 

the ebbing and flomng tide, often debarring all access 
to the main, and cutting off their supplies of wood 
and water. A belt of cedars, indeed, hedged the 
island ; but De Monts had ordered them to be spared, 
that the north wind might spend something of its 
force with wliistling through their shaggy boughs. 
Cider and mne froze in the casks, and were served 
out by the pound. As they crowded round their 
half-fed fires, shivering in the icy currents that 
pierced their rude tenem.ents, many sank into a 
desperate apathy. 

Soon the scurvy broke out, and raged with a fear- 
ful malignity. Of the seventy-nine, thirty-five died 
before spring, and many more were brought to the 
verge of death. In vain they sought that marvellous 
tree which had relieved the followers of Cartier. 
Their little cemetery was peopled with nearly half 
their number, and the rest, bloated and disfigured 
with the relentless malady, thought more of escaping 
from their woes than of building up a Transatlantic 
empire. Yet among them there was one, at least, 
who, amid languor and defection, held to his purpose 
with indomitable tenacity ; and where Champlain was 
present, there was no room for despair. 

Spring came at last, and, with the breaking up of 
the ice, the melting of the snow, and the clamors of 
the returning wild-fowl, the spirits and the health of 
the woe-begone company began to revive. But to 
misery succeeded anxiety and suspense. Where was 
the succor from France? Were they abandoned to 

17 



258 ACADIA OCCUPIED. [1605. 

their fate like the wretched exiles of La Roche ? In 
a happy hour, they saw an approaching sail. Pont- 
grave, with forty men, cast anchor before their island 
on the sixteenth of June ; and they hailed him as the 
condemned hails the messenger of his pardon. 

Weary of St. Croix, De Monts resolved to seek 
out a more auspicious site, on which to rear the 
capital of his wilderness dominion. During the pre- 
ceding September, Champlain had ranged the west- 
ward coast in a pinnace, visited and named the 
island of Mount Desert, and entered the mouth of 
the river Penobscot, called by him the Pemetigoet, 
or Pentegoet, and previously known to fur-traders 
and fishermen as the Norembega, a name which it 
shared with all the adjacent region. ^ Now, embark- 
ing a second time, in a bark of fifteen tons, with De 
Monts, several gentlemen, twenty sailors, and an 
Indian with his squaw, he set forth on the eighteenth 
of June on a second voyage of discovery. They 
coasted the strangely indented shores of Maine, with 
its reefs and surf-washed islands, rocky headlands, 
and deep embosomed bays, passed Mount Desert and 
the Penobscot, explored the mouths of the Kennebec, 
crossed Casco Bay, and descried the distant peaks of 
the White Mountains. The ninth of July brought 

* The earliest maps and narratives indicate a city, also called Norem- 
bega, on the banks of the Penobscot. The pilot, Jean Alphonse, of 
Saintouge, says that this fabulous city is fifteen or twenty leagues 
from the sea, and that its inhabitants are of small stature and dark 
complexion. As late as 1 607 the fable was repeated in the Histoire 
Universelle des Indes Occidentales, 



1605.] EXPLORATIONS OF CHAMPLAIN. 259 

them to Saco Bay. They were now witliin the limits 
of a group of tribes who were called by the French 
the Armouchiquois, and who included those whom 
the English afterwards called the Massachusetts. 
They differed in habits as well as in language from 
the Etechemins and Micmacs of Acadia, for they 
were tillers of the soil, and around their wigwams 
were fields of maize, beans, pumpkins, squashes, 
tobacco, and the so-called Jerusalem artichoke. Near 
Front's Neck, more than eighty of them ran down to 
the shore to meet the strangers, dancing and yelping 
to show their joy. They had a fort of palisades on a 
rising ground by the Saco, for they were at deadly 
war with their neighbors towards the east. 

On the twelfth, the French resumed their voyage, 
and, like some adventurous party of pleasure, held 
their course by the beaches of York and Wells, 
Portsmouth Harbor, the Isles of Shoals, Rye Beach, 
and Hampton Beach, till, on the fifteenth, they 
descried the dim outline of Cape Ann. Champlain 
called it Cap aux Isles, from the three adjacent 
islands, and in a subsequent voyage he gave the 
name of Beauport to the neighboring harbor of 
Gloucester. Thence steering southward and west- 
ward, they entered Massachusetts Bay, gave the 
name of Riviere du Guast to a river flowing into it, 
probably the Charles; passed the islands of Boston 
Harbor, which Champlain describes as covered with 
trees, and were met on the way by great numbers of 
canoes filled with astonished Indians. On Sunday, 



260 ACADIA OCCUPIED. [1605. 

the seventeenth, they passed Point Allerton and 
Nantasket Beach, coasted the shores of Cohasset, 
Scituate, and Marshfield, and anchored for the night 
near Brant Point. On the morning of the eighteenth, 
a head wind forced them to take shelter in Port St. 
Louis, for so they called the harbor of Plymouth, 
where the Pilgrims made their memorable landing 
fifteen years later. Indian wigwams and garden 
patches lined the shore. A troop of the inhabitants 
came down to the beach and danced; while others, 
who had been fishing, approached in their canoes, 
came on board the vessel, and showed Champlain 
their fish-hooks, consisting of a barbed bone lashed 
at an acute, angle to a slip of wood. 

From Plymouth the party circled round the bay, 
doubled Cape Cod, called by Champlain Cap Blanc, 
from its glistening white^^ands, and steered south- 
ward to Nausett Harbor, which, by reason of its 
shoals and sand-bars, they named Port Mallebarre. 
Here their prosperity deserted them. A party of 
sailors went behind the sand-banks to find fresh water 
at a spring, when an Indian snatched a kettle from 
one of them, and its owner, pursuing, fell, pierced 
with arrows by the robber's comrades. The French 
in the vessel opened fire. Champlain's arquebuse 
burst, and was near killing him, while the Indians, 
swift as deer, quickly gained the woods. Several 
of the tribe chanced to be on board the vessel, but 
flung themselves with such alacrity into the water 
that only one was caught. They bound him hand 



1605.] PLYMOUTH. — CAPE COD. 261 

and foot, but soon after humanely set him at 
liberty. 

Champlain, who we are told "delighted marvel- 
lously in these enterprises," had busied himself 
throughout the voyage with taking observations, 
making charts, and studjdng the wonders of land and 
sea. The "horse-foot crab" seems to have awakened 
his special curiosity, and he describes it with amus- 
ing exactness. Of the human tenants of the New 
England coast he has also left the first precise and 
trustworthy account. They were clearly more numer- 
ous than when the Puritans landed at Plymouth, 
since in the interval a pestilence made great havoc 
among them. But Champlain's most conspicuous 
merit lies in the light that he threw into the dark 
places of American geography, and the order that he 
brought out of the chaos of American cartography; 
for it was a result of this and the rest of his voyages 
that precision and clearness began at last to supplant 
the vagueness, confusion, and contradiction of the 
earlier map-makers.^ 

At Nausett Harbor provisions began to fail, and 

1 President Eliot of Harvard TTniversity, and his son, Mr. Charles 
Eliot, during many yacht voyages along the New England coast, made 
a study of the points visited by Champlain. I am indebted to them 
for useful information, as also to Mr. Henry Mitchell of the Coast 
Survey, who has made careful comparisons of the maps of Champlain 
with the present features of the places they represent. I am also in- 
debted to the excellent notes of Rev. Edmund F, Slafter in Mr. Otis's 
translation of Champlain, and to those of Abbe Laverdiere in the 
Quebec edition of the Voyages, 1870. In the new light from these 
sources, I have revised former conclusions touching several localities 
mentioned in the original narrative. 



262 ACADIA OCCUPIED. [1605. 

steering for St. Croix the voyagers reached that ill- 
starred island on the third of August. De Monts 
had found no spot to his liking. He now bethought 
him of that inland harbor of Port Royal which he 
had granted to Poutrincourt, and thither he resolved 
tp remove. Stores, utensils, even portions of the 
buildings, were placed on board the vessels, carried 
across the Bay of Fundy, and landed at the chosen 
spot. It was on the north side of the basin opposite 
Goat Island, and a little below the mouth of the river 
Annapolis, called by the French the Equille, and, 
afterwards, the Dauphin. The axe-men began their 
task; the dense forest was cleared away, and the 
buildings of the infant colony soon rose in its place. 

But while De Monts and his company were strug- 
gling against despair at St. Croix, the enemies of his 
monopoly were busy at Paris; and, by a ship from 
France, he was warned that prompt measures were 
needed to thwart their machinations. Therefore he 
set sail, leaving Pontgrave to command at Port 
Royal; while Champlain, Champdor^, and others, 
undaunted by the past, volunteered for a second 
winter in the wilderness. 



CHAPTER IV. 

1605-1607. 

LESCARBOT AND CHAMPLAIN, 

Db Monts at Paris. — Marc Lescarbot. — Disaster. — Embark* 
ATiON. — Arrival. — Disappointment. — Winter Life at Port 
Royal. — L'Ordre de Bon-Temps. — Hopes Blighted. 

Evil reports of a churlish wilderness, a pitiless 
climate, disease, misery, and death, had heralded 
the arrival of De Monts. The outlay had been great, 
the returns small; and when he reached Paris, he 
found his friends cold, his enemies active and keen. 
Poutrincourt, however, was still full of zeal; and, 
though his private affairs urgently called for his 
presence in France, he resolved, at no small sacrifice, 
to go in person to Acadia. He had, moreover, a 
friend who proved an invaluable ally. This was 
Marc Lescarbot, "avocat en Parlement," who had 
been roughly handled by fortune, and was in the 
mood for such a venture, being desirous, as he tells 
us, "to fly from a corrupt world," in which he had 
just lost a lawsuit. Unlike De Monts, Poutrincourt, 
and others of his associates, he was not within the 
pale of the noblesse, belonging to the class of "gens 
de robe," which stood at the head of the hourgeoisie, 



264 LESCARBOT AND CHAMPLAIN. [1605. 

and which, in its higher grades, formed within itself 
a virtual nobility. Lescarbot was no common man, 
— not that his abundant gift of verse-making was 
likely to avail much in the woods of New France, 
nor yet his classic lore, dashed with a little harmless 
pedantry, born not of the man, but of the times; 
but his zeal, his good sense, the vigor of his under- 
standing, and the breadth of his views, were as con- 
spicuous as his quick wit and his lively fancy. One 
of the best, as well as earliest, records of the early 
settlement of North America is due to his pen ; and 
it has been said, with a certain degree of truth, that 
he was no less able to build up a colony than to write 
its history. He professed himself a Catholic, but his 
Catholicity sat lightly on him; and he might have 
passed for one of those amphibious religionists who in 
the civil wars were called "Les Politiques." 

De Monts and Poutrincourt bestirred themselves 
to find a priest, since the foes of the enterprise had 
been loud in lamentation that the spiritual welfare of 
the Indians had been slighted. But it was Holy 
Week. All the priests were, or professed to be, busy 
with exercises and confessions, and not one could be 
found to undertake the mission of Acadia. They 
were more successful in engaging mechanics and 
laborers for the voyage. These were paid a portion 
of their wages in advance, and were sent in a body 
to Rochelle, consigned to two merchants of that port, 
members of the company. De Monts and Poutrin- 
court went thither by post. Lescarbot soon followed, 



1606.] MARC LESCARBOT. 265 

and no sooner reached Rochelle than he penned and 
printed his Adieu a la France^ a poem which gained 
for him some credit. 

More serious matters awaited him, however, than 
this dalliance with the Muse. Rochelle was the 
centre and citadel of Calvinism, — a town of austere 
and grim aspect, divided, like Cisatlantic communi- 
ties of later grow^th, betwixt trade and religion, and, 
in the interest of both, exacting a deportment of 
discreet and well-ordered sobriety. " One must walk 
a strait path here," says Lescarbot, "unless he would 
hear from the mayor or the ministers." But the 
mechanics sent from Paris, flush of money, and 
lodged together in the quarter of St. Nicolas, made 
day and night hideous with riot, and their employers 
found not a few of them in the hands of the police. 
Their ship, bearing the inauspicious name of the 
"Jonas," lay anchored in the stream, her cargo on 
board, when a sudden gale blew her adrift. She 
struck on a pier, then grounded on the flats, bilged, 
careened, and settled in the mud. Her captain, who 
was ashore, with Poutrincourt, Lescarbot, and others, 
hastened aboard, and the pumps were set in motion; 
while all Rochelle, we are told, came to gaze from 
the ramparts, with faces of condolence, but at heart 
well pleased with the disaster. The ship and her 
cargo were saved, but she must be emptied, repaired, 
and reladen. Thus a month was lost; at length, on 
the thirteenth of May, 1606, the disorderly crew were 
all brought on board, and the "Jonas" put to sea. 



266 LESCARBOT AND CHAMPLAm. [1606, 

Poutrincourt and Lescarbot had charge of the expe- 
dition, De Monts remaining in France. 

Lescarbot describes his emotions at finding himself 
on an element so deficient in solidity, with only a 
two-inch plank between him and death. Off the 
Azores, they spoke a supposed pirate. For the rest, 
they beguiled the voyage by harpooning porpoises, 
dancing on deck in calm weather, and fishing for cod 
on the Grand Bank. They were two months on their 
way; and when, fevered with eagerness to reach 
land, they listened hourly for the welcome cry, they 
were involved in impenetrable fogs. Suddenly the 
mists parted, the sun shone forth, and streamed fair 
and bright over the fresh hills and forests of the New 
World, in near view before them. But the black 
rocks lay between, lashed by the snow-white breakers. 
"Thus," writes Lescarbot, "doth a man sometimes 
seek the land as one doth his beloved, who sometimes 
repulseth her sweetheart very rudely. Finally, upon 
Saturday, the fifteenth of July, about two o'clock in 
the afternoon, the sky began to salute us as it were 
with cannon-shots, shedding tears, as being sorry to 
have kept us so long in pain; . . . but, whilst we 
followed on our course, there came from the land 
odors incomparable for sweetness, brought with a 
warm wind so abundantly that all the Orient parts 
could not produce greater abundance. We did 
stretch out our hands as it were to take them, so 
palpable were they, which I have admired a thousand 
times since." ^ 

1 The translation is that of Purchas, Nova Francia, c. 12. 



1606.] ARRIVAL AT PORT ROYAL. 267 

It was noon on the twenty-seventh when the 
" Jonas " passed the rocky gateway of Port Royal 
Basin, and Lescarbot gazed with delight and wonder 
on the calm expanse of sunny waters, with its amphi- 
theatre of woody hills, wherein he saw the future 
asylum of distressed merit and impoverished industry. 
Slowly, before a favoring breeze, they held their 
course towards the head of the harbor, which narrowed 
as they advanced ; but all was solitude, — no moving 
sail, no sign of human presence. At length, on their 
left, nestling in deep forests, they saw the wooden 
walls and roofs of the infant colony. Then appeared 
a birch canoe, cautiously coming towards them, 
guided by an old Indian. Then a Frenchman, ar- 
quebuse in hand, came down to the shore ; and then, 
from the wooden bastion, sprang the smoke of a 
saluting shot. The ship replied; the trumpets lent 
their voices to the din, and the forests and the hills 
gave back unwonted echoes. The voyagers landed, 
and found the colony of Port Royal dwindled to two 
solitary Frenchmen. 

These soon told their story. The preceding winter 
had been one of much suffering, though by no means 
the counterpart of the woful experience of St. Croix. 
But when the spring had passed, the summer far 
advanced, and still no tidings of De Monts had come, 
Pontgrave grew deeply anxious. To maintain them- 
selves without supplies and succor was impossible. 
He caused two small vessels to be built, and set out 
in search of some of the French vessels on the fishing- 



268 LESCARBOT AND CHAMPLAIX. [1606. 

stations. This was but twelve days before the arrival 
of the ship "Jonas." Two men had bravely offered 
themselves to stay behind and guard the buildings, 
guns, and munitions ; and an old Indian chief, named 
Membertou, a fast friend of the French, and still a 
redoubted warrior, we are told, though reputed to 
number more than a hundred years, proved a stanch 
ally. When the ship approached, the two guardians 
were at dinner in their room at the fort. Membertou, 
always on the watch, saw the advancing sail, and, 
shouting from the gate, roused them from their 
repast. In doubt who the new-comers might be, one 
ran to the shore with his gun, while the other repaired 
to the platform where four cannon were mounted, in 
the valorous resolve to show fight should the strangers 
prove to be enemies. Happily this redundancy of 
mettle proved needless. He saw the white flag flut- 
tering at the masthead, and joyfully fired his pieces 
as a salute. 

The voyagers landed, and eagerly surveyed their 
new home. Some wandered through the buildings; 
some visited the cluster of Indian wigwams hard by ; 
some roamed in the forest and over the meadows that 
bordered the neighboring river. The deserted fort 
now swarmed with life ; and, the better to celebrate 
their prosperous arrival, Poutrincourt placed a hogs- 
head of wine in the courtyard at the discretion of his 
followers, whose hilarity, in consequence, became 
exuberant. Nor was it diminished when Pontgrav^'s 
vessels were seen entering the harbor. A boat sent 



1606.] DISASTER. 269 

by Poutrincourt, more than a week before, to explore 
the coasts, had met them near Cape Sable, and they 
joyfully returned to Port Royal. 

Pontgravd, however, soon sailed for France in the 
"Jonas," hoping on his way to seize certain contra- 
band fur-traders, reported to be at Canseau and Cape 
Breton, Poutrincourt and Champlain, bent on find- 
ing a better site for their settlement in a more southern 
latitude, set out on a voyage of discovery, in an ill- 
built vessel of eighteen tons, while Lescarbot remained 
in charge of Port Royal. Theyliad little for their 
pains but danger, hardship, and mishap. The autumn 
gales cut short their exploration; and, after visiting 
Gloucester Harbor, doubling Monomoy Point, and 
advancing as far as the neighborhood of Hyannis, on 
the southeast coast of Massachusetts, they turned 
back, somewhat disgusted with their errand. Along 
the eastern verge of Cape Cod they found the shore 
thickly studded with the wigwams of a race who 
were less hunters than tillers of the soil. At Chatham 
Harbor — called by them Port Fortune — five of the 
company, who, contrary to orders, had remained on 
shore all night, were assailed, as they slept around 
their fire, by a shower of arrows from four hundred 
Indians. Two were killed outright, while the sur- 
vivors fled for their boat, bristling like porcupines 
with the feathered missiles, — a scene oddly portrayed 
by the untutored pencil of Champlain. He and 
Poutrincourt, with eight men, hearing the war- 
whoops and the cries for aid, sprang up from sleep, 



270 LESCARBOT AND CHAMPLAIN, [1606. 

snatched their weapons, pulled ashore in their shirts, 
and charged the yelling multitude, who fled before 
their spectral assailants, and vanished in the woods. 
"Thus," observes Lescarbot, "did thirty-five thou- 
sand Midianites fly before Gideon and his three hun- 
dred." The French buried their dead comrades ; but, 
as they chanted their funeral hymn, the Indians, at a 
safe distance on a neighboring hill, were dancing in 
glee and triumph, and mocking them with unseemly 
gestures ; and no sooner had the party re-embarked, 
than they dug up the dead bodies, burnt them, and 
arrayed themselves in their shirts. Little pleased 
with the country or its inhabitants, the voyagers 
turned their prow towards Port Royal, though not 
until, by a treacherous device, they had lured some 
of their late assailants within their reach, killed them, 
and cut off their heads as trophies. Near Mount 
Desert, on a stormy night, their rudder broke, and 
they had a hair-breadth escape from destruction. 
The chief object of their voyage, that of discovering 
a site for their colony under a more southern sky, 
had failed. Pontgrav^'s son had his hand blown off 
by the bursting of his gun ,* several of their number 
had been killed; others were sick or wounded; and 
thus, on the fourteenth of November, with somewhat 
downcast visages, they guided their helpless vessel 
with a pair of oars to the landing at Port RoyaL 

" I will not, " says Lescarbot, " compare their perils 
to those of Ulysses, nor yet of ^neas, lest thereby I 
should sully our holy enterprise with things impure.'' 



1606.] ANOTHER VOYAGE TO NEW ENGLAND. 271 

He and his followers had been expecting* them 
with great anxiety. His alert and buoyant spirit 
had conceived a plan for enlivening the courage of 
the company, a little dashed of late by misgivings 
and forebodings. Accordingly, as Poutrincourt, 
Champlain, and their weather-beaten crew approached 
the wooden gateway of Port Royal, Neptune issued 
forth, followed by his tritons, who greeted the voy- 
agers in good French verse, written in all haste for 
the occasion by Lescarbot. And, as they entered, 
they beheld, blazoned over the arch, the arms of 
France, circled with laurels, and flanked by the 
scutcheons of De Monts and Poutrincourt.^ 

The ingenious author of these devices had busied 
himseK, during the absence of liis associates, in more 
serious labors for the welfare of the colony. He 
explored the low borders of the river Equille, or 
Annapolis. Here, in the solitude, he saw great 
meadows, where the moose, with their young, were 
grazing, and where at times the rank grass was beaten 
to a pulp by the trampling of their hoofs. He burned 
the grass, and sowed crops of wheat, rye, and barley 
in its stead. His appearance gave so little promise 
of personal vigor, that some of the party assured him 
that he would never see France again, and warned 
him to husband his strength; but he knew himself 
better, and set at naught these comforting monitions. 
He was the most diligent of workers. He made 

1 Lescarbot, Muses de la Nouvelh France, where the programme is 
given, and the speeches of Neptune and the tritons in full. 



272 LESCARBOT AND CHAMPLAIN, [1606. 

gardens near the fort, where, in Ms zeal, he plied the 
hoe with his own hands late into the moonlight even- 
ings. The priests, of whom at the outset there had 
been no lack, had all succumbed to the scurvy at St. 
Croix; and Lescarbot, so far as a layman might, 
essayed to supply their place, reading on Sundays 
from the Scriptures, and adding expositions of his 
own after a fashion not- remarkable for rigorous 
Catholicity. Of an evening, when not engrossed 
with his garden, he was reading or writing in his 
room, perhaps preparing the material of that History 
of New France in which, despite the versatility of his 
busy brain, his good sense and capacity are clearly 
made manifest. 

Now, however, when the whole company were reas- 
sembled, Lescarbot found associates more congenial 
than the rude soldiers, mechanics, and laborers who 
gathered at night around the blazing logs in their 
rude hall. Port Royal was a quadrangle of wooden 
buildings, enclosing a spacious court. At the south- 
east corner was the arched gateway, whence a path, a 
few paces in length, led to the water. It was flanked 
by a sort of bastion of palisades, wliile at the south- 
west corner was another bastion, on which four 
cannon were mounted. On the east side of the quad- 
rangle was a range of magazines and storehouses ; on 
the west were quarters for the men ; on the north, a 
dining-hall and lodgings for the principal persons of 
the company ; wliile on the south, or water side, were 
the kitchen, the forge, and the oven. Except the 



1606.] L'ORDRE DE BON-TEMPS. 273 

garden-patches and the cemetery, the adjacent ground 
was thickly studded with the stumps of the newly 
felled trees. 

Most bountiful provision had been made for the 
temporal wants of the colonists, and Lescarbot is pro- 
fuse in praise of the liberality of De Monts and two 
merchants of Rochelle, who had freighted the ship 
"Jonas." Of wine, in particular, the supply was so 
generous, that every man in Port Royal was served 
with three pints daily. 

The principal persons of the colony sat, fifteen in 
number, at Poutrincourt's table, which, by an inge- 
nious device of Champlain, was always well furnished. 
He formed the fifteen into a new order, christened 
"L'Ordre de Bon-Temps." Each was Grand Master 
in turn, holding office for one day. It was his func- 
tion to cater for the company; and, as it became a 
point of honor to fill the post with credit, the prospec- 
tive Grand Master was usually busy, for several days 
before coming to liis dignity, in hunting, fishing, or 
bartering provisions with the Indians. Thus did 
Poutrincourt's table groan beneath all the luxuries of 
the winter forest, ~ flesh of moose, caribou, and deer, 
beaver, otter, and hare, bears and wild-cats; with 
ducks, geese, grouse, and plover; sturgeon, too, and 
trout, and fish innumerable, speared through the ice 
of the Equille, or drav/n from the depths of the 
neighboring bay. " And, " says Lescarbot, in closing 
his bill of fare, "whatever our gourmands at home 

may think, we found as good cheer at Port Royal as 

16 



274 LESCARBOT AND CHAMPLAIN. [1606. 

they at their Rue aux Ours ^ in Paris, and that, too, 
at a cheaper rate." For the preparation of this mani- 
fold provision, the Grand Master was also answer- 
able ; since, during his day of office, he was autocrat 
of the kitchen. 

Nor did this bounteous repast lack a solemn and 
befitting ceremonial. When the hour had struck, — 
after the manner of our fathers they dined at noon, 
— the Grand Master entered the hall, a napkin on his 
shoulder, his staff of office in his hand, and the 
collar of the Order — valued by Lescarbot at four 
crowns — about his neck. The brotherhood followed, 
each bearing a dish. The invited guests were Indian 
chiefs, of whom old Membertou was daily present, 
seated at table with the French, who took pleasure in 
this red-skin companionship. Those of humbler 
degree, warriors, squaws, and children, sat on the 
floor, or crouched together in the corners of the hall, 
eagerly waiting their portion of biscuit or of bread, a 
novel and much coveted luxury. Being always 
treated with kindness, they became fond of the 
French, who often followed them on their moose- 
hunts, and shared their winter bivouac. 

At the evening meal there was less of form and 
circumstance ; and when the winter night closed in, 
when the flame crackled and the sparks streamed up 
the wide-throated chimney, and the founders of New 
France with their tawny allies were gathered around 

1 A short street between Rue St. Martin and Rue St. Denis, once 
L^eno^^ned for its restaurants. 



1607.1 CONTAGIOUS ACTIVITY. 275 

the blaze, then did the Grand Master resign the collar 
and the staff to the successor of his honors, and, with 
jovial courtesy, pledge him in a cup of wine.^ Thus 
these ingenious Frenchmen beguiled the winter of 
their exile. 

It was an unusually mild winter. Until January, 
they wore no warmer garment than their doublets. 
They made hunting and fishing parties, in which the 
Indians, whose lodges were always to be seen under 
the friendly shelter of the buildings, failed not to 
bear part. " I remember, " says Lescarbot, " that on 
the fourteenth of January, of a Sunday afternoon, we 
amused ourselves with singing and music on the river 
Equille; and that in the same month we went to see 
the wheat-fields two leagues from the fort, and dined 
merrily in the sunshine." 

Good spirits and good cheer saved them in great 
measure from the scurvy; and though towards the 
end of winter severe cold set in, yet only four men 
died. The snow thawed at last, and as patches of 
the black and oozy soil began to appear, they saw the 
grain of their last autumn's sowing already piercing 
the mould. The forced inaction of the winter was 
over. The carpenters built a water-mill on the 
stream now called Allen's River; others enclosed 
fields and laid out gardens ; others, again, with scoop- 
nets and baskets, caught the herrings and alemves as 
they ran up the innumerable rivulets. The leaders 
of the colony set a contagious example of activity, 

1 Lescarbot (1612), 11. 581. 



2T6 LESCARBOT AND CHAMPLAIJST. [1606. 

Poutrincourt forgot the prejudices of his noble birth, 
and went himself into the woods to gather turpentine 
from the pines, which he converted into tar by a 
process of his own invention; while Lescarbot, eager 
to test the qualities of the soil, was again, hoe in 
hand, at work all day in his garden. 

All seemed full of promise ; but alas for the bright 
hope that kindled the manly heart of Champlain and 
the earnest spirit of the vivacious advocate ! A sud- 
den blight fell on them, and their rising prosperity 
withered to the ground. On a morning, late in 
spring, as the French were at breakfast, the ever 
watchful Membertou came in with news of an 
approaching sail. They hastened to the shore,* but 
the vision of the centenarian sagamore put them all 
to shame. They could see nothing. At length their 
doubts were resolved. A small vessel stood on 
towards them, and anchored before the fort. She 
was commanded by one Chevalier, a young man from 
St. Malo, and was freighted with disastrous tidings. 
De Monts's monopoly was rescinded. The life of 
the enterprise was stopped, and the establishment at 
Port Royal could no longer be supported; for its 
expense was great, the body of the colony being 
laborers in the pay of the company. Nor was the 
annulling of the patent the full extent of the disaster ; 
for, during the last summer, the Dutch had found 
their way to the St. Lawrence, and carried away a 
rich harvest of furs, while other interloping traders 
had plied a busy traffic along the coasts, and, in the 



1607.] HOPES BLIGHTED. 277 

excess of their avidity, dug up the bodies of buried 
Indians to rob them of their funeral robes. 

It was to the merchants and fishermen of the 
Norman, Breton, and Biscayan ports, exasperated at 
their exclusion from a lucrative trade, and at the 
confiscations wliich had sometimes followed their 
attempts to engage in it, that this sudden blow was 
due. Money had been used freely at court, and the 
monopoly, unjustly granted, had been more unjustly 
withdrawn. De Monts and his company, who had 
spent a hundred thousand livres, were allowed six 
thousand in requital, to be collected, if possible, from 
the fur-traders in the form of a tax. 

Chevalier, captain of the ill-omened bark, was 
entertained with a hospitality little deserved, since, 
having been intrusted with sundry hams, fruits, 
spices, sweetmeats, jellies, and other dainties, sent by 
the generous De Monts to his friends of New France, 
he with his crew had devoured them on the voyage, 
alleging that, in their belief, the inmates of Port 
Eoyal would all be dead before their arrival. 

Choice there was none, and Port Royal must be 
abandoned. Built on a false basis, sustained only by 
the fleeting favor of a government, the generous 
enterprise had come to naught. Yet Poutrincourt, 
who in virtue of his grant from De Monts owned the 
place, bravely resolved that, come what might, he 
would see the adventure to an end, even should it 
involve emigration with his family to the wilderness. 
Meanwhile, he began the dreary task of abandonment, 



278 LESCARBOT AND CHAMPLAIN. [1607. 

sending boat-loads of men and stores to Canseau, 
where lay the ship " Jonas," eking out her diminished 
profits by fishing for cod. 

Membertou was full of grief at the departure of his 
friends. He had built a palisaded village not far 
from Port Royal, and here were mustered some four 
hundred of his warriors for a foray into the country 
of the Armouchiquois, dwellers along the coasts of 
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Western Maine. 
One of his tribesmen had been killed by a chief from 
the Saco, and he was bent on revenge. He proved 
himself a sturdy beggar, pursuing Poutrincourt with 
daily petitions, — now for a bushel of beans, now for 
a basket of bread, and now for a barrel of wine to 
regale his greasy crew. Membertou 's long life had 
not been one of repose. In deeds of blood and 
treachery he had no rival in the Acadian forest ; and, 
as his old age was beset with enemies, his alliance 
with the French had a foundation of policy no less 
than of affection. In right of his rank of Sagamore, 
he claimed perfect equality both with Poutrincourt 
and with the King, laying his shrivelled forefingers 
together in token of friendship between peers. 
Calumny did not spare him ; and a rival chief inti- 
mated to the French, that, under cover of a war with 
the Armouchiquois, the crafty veteran meant to seize 
and plunder Port Royal. Precautions, therefore, 
were taken ; but they were seemingly needless ; for, 
their feasts and dances over, the warriors launched 
their birchen flotilla and set out. After an absence 



1607.] PORT ROYAL ABANDONED. 279 

of six weeks they reappeared with howls of victory, 
and their exploits were commemorated in French 
verse by the muse of the indefatigable Lescarbot.^ 

With a heavy heart the advocate bade farewell to 
the dwellings, the cornfields, the gardens, and all 
the dawning prosperity of Port Royal, and sailed for 
Canseau in a small vessel on the thirtieth of July. 
Poutrincourt and Champlain remained behind, for 
the former was resolved to learn before his departure 
the results of his agricultural labors. Reaching a 
harbor on the southern coast of Nova Scotia, six 
leagues west of Canseau, Lescarbot found a fishing- 
vessel commanded and owned by an old Basque, 
named Savalet, who for forty-two successive years 
had carried to France his annual cargo of codfish. 
He was in great glee at the success of his present 
venture, reckoning his profits at ten thousand francs. 
The Indians, however, annoyed him beyond measure, 
boarding him from their canoes as his fishing-boats 
came alongside, and helping themselves at will to his 
halibut and cod. At Canseau — a harbor near the 
strait now bearing the name — the sliip "Jonas " still 
lay, her hold well stored with fish ; and here, on the 
twenty-seventh of August, Lescarbot was rejoined by 
Poutrincourt and Champlain, who had come from Port 
Royal in an open boat. For a few days, they amused 
themselves with gathering raspberries on the islands ; 
then they spread their sails for France, and early in 
October, 1607, anchored m the harbor of St. Malo. 

1 See Muses de la Nouvelle France. 



280 LESCARBOT AND CHAMPLAIK [1607. 

First of Europeans, they had essayed to found an 
agricultural colony in the New World. The leaders 
of the enterprise had acted less as merchants than as 
citizens; and the fur-trading monopoly, odious in 
itself, had been used as the instrument of a large and 
generous design. There was a radical defect, how- 
ever, in their scheme of settlement. Excepting a 
few of the leaders, those engaged in it had not chosen 
a home in the wilderness of New France, but were 
mere hirelings, without wives or families, and care- 
less of the welfare of the colony. The life which 
should have pervaded all the members was confined 
to the heads alone. In one respect, however, the 
enterprise of De Monts Avas truer in principle than 
the Roman Catholic colonization of Canada, on the 
one hand, or the Puritan colonization of Massachu- 
setts, on the other, for it did not attempt to enforce 
religious exclusion. 

Towards the fickle and bloodthirsty race who 
claimed the lordship of the forests, these colonists, 
excepting only in the treacherous slaughter at Port 
Fortune, bore themselves in a spirit of kindness con- 
trasting brightly with the rapacious cruelty of the 
Spaniards and the harshness of the English settlers. 
When the last boat-load left Port Royal, the shore 
resounded with lamentation ; and nothing could con- 
sole the afflicted savages but reiterated promises of a 
speedy return. 



CHAPTER V. 

1610, 1611. 
THE JESUITS AND THEIR PATRONESS. 

POUTKINCOUKT AKD THE JeSUITS. — He SAILS FOR ACADIA. — SuD- 

DEN Conversions. — Biencourt. — Death of the King. — 
Madame de Guercheville. — Biard and Masse. — The 
Jesuits Triumphant. 

PouTRiNCOURT, WG have seen, owned Port Koyal in 
virtue of a grant from De Monts. The ardent and 
adventurous baron was in evil case, involved in liti- 
gation and low in purse ; but nothing could damp his 
zeal. Acadia must become a new France, and he, 
Poutrincourt, must be its fathero He gained from 
the King a confirmation of his grant, and, to supply 
the lack of his own weakened resources, associated 
with himself one Robin, a man of family and wealth. 
This did not save him from a host of delays and vexa- 
tions ; and it was not until the spring of 1610 that he 
found himself in a condition to embark on his new 
and doubtful venture. 

Meanwhile an influence, of sinister omen as he 
thought, had begun to act upon his schemes. The 
Jesuits were strong at court. One of their number, 
the famous Father Coton, was confessor to Henry 
the Fourth, and, on matters of this world as of the 



282 THE JESUITS AKD THEIR PATRONESS. [1610. 

next, was ever whispering at the facile ear of the 
renegade King. New France offered a fresh field of 
action to the indefatigable Society of Jesus, and 
Coton urged upon the royal convert, that, for the 
saving of souls, some of its members should be 
attached to the proposed enterprise. The King, pro- 
foundly indifferent in matters of religion, saw no evil 
in a proposal which at least promised to place the 
Atlantic betwixt him and some of those busy friends 
whom at heart he deeply mistrusted.^ Other influ- 
ences, too, seconded the confessor. Devout ladies of 
the court, and the Queen herself, supplying the lack 
of virtue with an overflowing piety, burned, we are 
assured, with a holy zeal for snatching the tribes of 
the West from the bondage of Satan. Therefore it 
was insisted that the projected colony should combine 
the spiritual with the temporal character, — or, in 
other words, that Poutrincourt should take Jesuits 
with him. Pierre Biard, Professor of Theology at 
Lyons, was named for the mission, and repaired in 
haste to Bordeaux, the port of embarkation, where 
he found no vessel, and no sign of preparation; and 
here, in wrath and discomfiture, he remained for a 
whole year. 

That Poutrincourt was a good Catholic appears 
from a letter to the Pope, written for him in Latin by 
Lescarbot, asking a blessing on his enterprise, and 

1 The missionary Biard makes the characteristic assertion, that the 
King initiated the Jesuit project, and that Father Coton merely obeyed 
his orders. Biard, Relation, c. 11. 



1610.] POUTRTNCOURT SAILS FOR ACADIA. 283 

assiuing his Holiness that one of his grand objects 
was the saving of souls. ^ But, like other good citi- 
zens, he belonged to the national party in the Church, 
— those liberal Catholics, who, side by side with the 
Huguenots, had made head against the League, with 
its Spanish allies, and placed Henry the Fourth upon 
the throne. The Jesuits, an order Spanish in origin 
and policy, determined champions of ultramontane 
principles, the sword and shield of the Papacy in its 
broadest pretensions to spiritual and temporal sway, 
were to him, as to others of his party, objects of deep 
dislike and distrust. He feared them in his colony, 
evaded what he dared not refuse, left Biard waiting 
in solitude at Bordeaux, and sought to postpone the 
evil day by assuring Father Coton that, though Port 
Royal was at present in no state to receive the mis- 
eionaries, preparation should be made to entertain 
them the next year after a befitting fashion, 

Poutrincourt owned the barony of St. Just in 
Champagne, inherited a few years before from his 
mother. Hence, early in February, 1610, he set out 
in a boat loaded to the gunwales with provisions, 
furniture, goods, and munitions for Port Royal, 
descended the rivers Aube and Seine, and reached 
Dieppe safely with his charge. ^ Here his ship was 
awaiting him ^ and on the twenty-sixth of February 
he set sail, giving the slip to the indignant Jesuit at 
Bordeaux. 

1 See Lescarbot (1618), 605. 

2 Lescarbot, Relation Derniere, 6, This is a pamphlet of thirty-nine 
pages, containing matters not included in the larger work. 



284 THE JESUITS AND THEIR PATRONESS. [1610. 

; The tedium of a long passage was unpleasantly 
broken by a mutiny among the crew. It was sup- 
pressed, however, and Poutrincourt entered at length 
the familiar basin of Port Royal. The buildings were 
still standing, whole and sound save a partial falling 
in of the roofs. Even furniture was found untouched 
in the deserted chambers. The centenarian Mem- 
bertou was still alive, his leathern, wrinkled visage 
beaming with welcome. 

Poutrincourt set himself without delay to the task 
of Christianizing New France, in an access of zeal 
which his desire of proving that Jesuit aid was super- 
fluous may be supposed largely to have reinforced. 
He had a priest with him, one La Fl^che, whom he 
urged to the pious work. No time was lost. Mem- 
bertou first was catechised, confessed his sins, and 
renounced the Devil, whom we are told he had faith- 
fully served during a hundred and ten years. His 
squaws, his children, his grandchildren, and his entire 
clan were next won over. It was in June, the day 
of St. John the Baptist, when the naked proselytes. 
twenty-one in number, were gathered on the shore at 
Port Royal. Here was the priest in the vestments of 
his office ; here were gentlemen in gay attire, soldiers, 
laborers, lackeys, all the infant colony. The con 
verts kneeled ; the sacred rite was finished, Te Deum 
was sung, and the roar of cannon proclaimed this 
triumph over the powers of darkness^^ Membertou 
was named Henri, after the King; his principal 

1 Lescarbot, Relation Derniere, 11. 



1610.] BIENCOURT. 285 

squaw, Marie, after the Queen. One of his sons 
received the name of the Pope, another that of the 
Daupliin; his daughter was called Marguerite, after 
the divorced Marguerite de Valois, and, in like 
manner, the rest of the squalid company exchanged 
their barbaric appellatives for the names of princes, 
nobles, and ladies of rank.^ 

The fame of this chef-d^xuvre of Christian piety, as 
Lescarbot gravely calls it, spread far and wide 
through the forest, whose denizens, — partly out of a 
notion that the rite would bring good luck, partly to 
please the French, and partly to share in the good 
cheer with which the apostolic efforts of Father La 
Fl^che had been sagaciously seconded — came flock- 
ing to enroll themselves under the bamiers of the 
Faith. Their zeal ran high. They would take no 
refusal. Membertou was for war on all who would 
not turn Christian. A living skeleton was seen crawl- 
ing from hut to hut in search of the priest and his 
saving waters ; while another neophyte, at the point 
of death, asked anxiously whether, in the realms of 
bhss to which he was bound, pies were to be had com- 
parable to those with which the French regaled him. 

A formal register of baptisms was drawn up to be 
carried to France in the returning ship, of which 
Poutrincourt's son, Biencourt, a spirited youth of 
eighteen, was to take charge. He sailed in July, his 
father keeping him company as far as Port la H^ve, 
whence, bidding the young man farewell, he attempted 

* Regitre de Bapteme de VEglise du Port Royal en la Nouvelle France^ 



286 THE JESUITS AND THEIR PATRONESS. [1610 

to return in an open boat to Port Royal. A north 
wind blew him out to sea ; and for six days he was 
out of sight of land, subsisting on rain-water wrung 
from the boat's sail, and on a few wild-fowl which he 
had shot on an island. Five weeks passed before he 
could rejoin his colonists, who, despairing of his 
safety, were about to choose a new chief. 

Meanwhile, young Biencourt, speeding on his way, 
heard dire news from a fisherman on the Grand Bank. 
The knife of Ravaillac had done its work. Henry 
the Fourth was dead. 

There is an ancient street in Paris, where a great 
thoroughfare contracts to a narrow pass, the Rue de 
la Ferronnerie. Tall buildings overshadow it, packed 
from pavement to tiles mth human life, and from the 
dingy front of one of them the sculptured head of a 
man looks down on the throng that ceaselessly defiles 
beneath. On the fourteenth of May, 1610, a pon- 
derous coach, studded with fleurs-de-lis and rich with 
gilding, rolled along this street. In it was a small 
man, well advanced in life, whose profile once seen 
could not be forgotten, — a hooked nose, a protrud- 
ing chin, a brow full of wrinkles, grizzled hair, a 
short, grizzled beard, and stiff, gray moustaches, 
bristling like a cat's. One would have thought him 
some whiskered satyr, grim from the rack of tumultu- 
ous years ; but his alert, upright port bespoke unshaken 
vigor, and his clear eye was full of buoyant life. 
Following on the footway strode a tall, strong, and 
somewhat corpulent man, with sinister, deep-set eyes 



1610.] ASSASSINATION OF HENRY IV. 287 

and a red beard, his arm and shoulder covered with 
his cloak. In the throat of the thoroughfare, where 
the sculptui-ed image of Henry the Fourth still guards 
the spot, a collision of tAVO carts stopped the coach. 
Ravaillac quickened his pace. In an instant he was 
at the door. With his cloak dropped from his 
shouldei^s, and a long knife in his hand, he set liis 
foot upon a guardstone, thrust his head and shoulders 
into the coach, and mth frantic force stabbed thrice 
at the King's heart. A broken exclamation, a gasp- 
ing convulsion, — and then the grim visage drooped 
on the bleeding breast. Henry breathed his last, 
and the hope of Europe died with him. 

The omens were sinister for Old France and for 
New. Marie de Medicis, "cette grosse banquiere," 
coarse scion of a bad stock, false wife and faithless 
queen, paramour of an intriguing foreigner, tool of 
the Jesuits and of Spain, was Regent in the minority 
of her imbecile son. The Huguenots drooped, the 
national party collapsed, the vigorous hand of Sully 
was felt no more, and the treasure gathered for a 
vast and beneficent enterprise became the instrument 
of despotism and the prey of corruption. Under 
such dark auspices, young Biencourt entered the 
thronged chambers of the Louvre. 

He gained audience of the Queen, and displayed 
his list of baptisms; while the ever present Jesuits 
failed not to seize him by the button, ^ assuring him, 

1 Lescarbot, (1618,) 662: ". o uemanqu^rent de Tempoigner par 
les cheveux. 



288 THE JESUITS AKD THEIR PATROKESS. [1610. 

not only that the late King had deeply at heart the 
establishment of their Society in Acadia, but that to 
this end he had made them a grant of two thousand 
livres a year. The Jesuits had found an ally and the 
intended mission a friend at court, whose story and 
whose character are too striking to pass unnoticed. 

This was a lady of honor to the Queen, Antoinette 
de Pons, Marquise de Guercheville, once renowned 
for grace and beauty, and not less conspicuous for 
qualities rare in the unbridled court of Henry's pre- 
decessor, where her youth had been passed. When 
the civil war was at its height, the royal heart, leap- 
ing with insatiable restlessness from battle to battle, 
from mistress to mistress, had found a brief repose in 
the affections of his Corisande, famed in tradition 
and romance ; but Corisande was suddenly abandoned, 
and the young widow, Madame de Guercheville, 
became the load-star of his erratic fancy. It was an 
evil hour for the B Jamais. Henry sheathed in rusty 
steel, battling for his crown and his Hfe, and Henry 
robed in royalty and throned triumphant in the 
Louvre, alike urged their suit in vain. Unused to 
defeat, the King's passion rose higher for the obstacle 
that barred it. On one occasion he was met with an 
answer not unworthy of record : — 

"Sire, my rank, perhaps, is not high enough to 
permit me to be your wife, but my heart is too high 
to permit me to be your mistress." ^ 

1 A similar reply is attributed to Catherine de Rohan, Duchesse de 
Deux-Ponts : " Je suis trop pauvre pour etre votre femme, et de trop 



1610.] MADAME DE GUERCHEVILLE. 289 

She left the court and retired to her cht^teau of La 
Roche-Guyon, on the Seine, ten leagues below Paris, 
where, fond of magnificence, she is said to have lived 
in much expense and splendor. The indefatigable 
King, haunted by her memory, made a hunting-party 
in the neighboring forests; and, as evening drew 
near, separating himself from his courtiers, he sent 
a gentleman of his train to ask of Madame de 
Guercheville the shelter of her roof. The reply con- 
veyed a dutiful acknowledgment of the honor, and an 
offer of the best entertainment within her power. It 
was night when Henry, with his little band of horse- 
men, approached the chteau, where lights were 
burning in every window, after a fashion of the day 
on occasions of welcome to an honored guest. Pages 
stood in the gateway, each with a blazing torch ; and 
here, too, were gentlemen of the neighborhood, 
gathered to greet their sovereign. Madame de 
Guercheville came forth, followed by the women of 
her household; and when the King, unprepared for 
so benign a welcome, giddy with love and hope, saw 
her radiant in pearls and more radiant yet in a beauty 
enhanced by the wavy torchlight and the surrounding 
shadows, he scarcely dared trust his senses : — 

" Que vols- je, madame ; est-ce bien vous, et suis- je 
ce roi m^pris^ ? " 

He gave her his hand, and she led him within the 
chateau, where, at the door of the apartment destined 

bonne maison pour etre votre maitresse." Her suitor also was Henry 
the Eourth. Dictionnaire de Bayle, III. 2182. 

19 



290 THE JESUITS AND THEIR PATEOKESS. [1610. 

for him, she left him, with a graceful reverence. 
The King, nowise disconcerted, did not doubt that 
she had gone to give orders for his entertainment, 
when an attendant came to tell him that she had 
descended to the courtyard and called for her coach. 
Thither he hastened in alarm : — 

" What ! am I driving you from your house ? " 
" Sire, " replied Madame de Guercheville, "where 
a king is, he should be the sole master; but, for my 
part, I like to preserve some little authority wherever 
I may be." 

With another deep reverence, she entered her 
coach and disappeared, seeking shelter under the roof 
of a friend, some two leagues off, and leaving the 
baffled King to such consolation as he might find in 
a magnificent repast, bereft of the presence of the 
hostess.^ 

1 M Moires de VAhh€de Choisy, Liv, XII. The elaborate notices of 
Madame de Guercheville in the Biographie Generale and the Biographie 
Universelle are from this source. She figures under the name of 
Scilinde in Les Amours du Grand Alcandre (Henry IV.). See Collection 
Petitot, LXIII. 515, note, where the passage is extracted. 

The Abbe de Choisy says that when the King was enamoured of her 
she was married to M. de Liancourt. This, it seems, is a mistake, this 
second marriage not taking place till 1594. Madame de Guercheville 
refused to take the name of Liancourt, because it had once been borne 
by the Duchesse de Beaufort, who had done it no honor, — a scruple 
very reasonably characterized by her biographer as " trop affecte." 

The following is De Choisy's account : — 

" Enfin ce prince s'avisa un jour, pour derni^re ressource, de faire 
une partie de chasse du cote de La Roche-Guyon ; et, sur la fin de la 
journee, s'etant separe de la plupart de ses courtisans, il envoya nn 
gentilhomme h, La Roche-Guyon demander le convert pour une nuit. 
Madame de Guercheville, sans s'embarrasser, repondit au gentilhomme, 



1610.] MADAME DE GUERCHEYILLE. 291 

Henry could admire the virtue which he could not 
vanquish; and, long after, on his marriage, he 
acknowledged his sense of her worth by begging her 
to accept an honorable post near the person of the 
Queen. 

"Madame," he said, presenting her to Marie de 
Medicis, " I give you a lady of honor who is a lady of 
honor indeed." 

Some twenty years had passed since the adventure 
of La Eoche-Guyon. Madame de Guercheville had 
outlived the charms which had attracted her royal 

que le Roi lui feroit beaucoup d'honneur, et qu'elle le recevroit de son 
mieux. En effet, elle donna ordre ^ un magnifique souper ; on eclaira 
toutes les fenetres du chateau avec des torches (c'etoit la mode en ce 
temps-la) ; elle se para de ses plus beaux habits, se couvrit de perles 
(c'etoit aussi la mode) ; et lorsque le Roi arriva a I'entree de la nait, 
elle alia le recevoir a la porte de sa maison, accompagnee de toutes ses 
femmes, et de quelques gentilshommes du voisinage. Des pages por- 
toient les torches devant elle. Le Roi, transporte de joie, la trouva 
plus belle que jamais : les ombres de la nuit, la lumiere des flambeaux, 
les diamans, la surprise d'un accueil si favorable et si peu accoutume, 
tout contribuait a renouveler ses auciennes blessures, 'Que vois-je, 
madame 1 ' lui dit ce monarque tremblant ; ' est-ce bien vous, et suis-je 
ce roi meprise 1 ' Madame de Guercheville I'interrompit, en le priant 
de monter dans son appartement pour se reposer. II lui donna la 
main. Elle le conduisit jusqu'a la porte de sa chambre, lui fit une 
grande reverence, et se retira. Le Roi ne s'en ^tonna pas; il crut 
qu'elle vouloit aller donner ordre a la fete qu'elle lui preparoit, Mais 
il fut bien surpris quand on lui vint dire qu'elle etoit descendue dans 
sa cour, et qu'elle avoit crie tout haut : Qu'on attelle mon coche ! 
comme pour aller coucher hors de chez elle. II descendit aussitot, 
et tout eperdu lui dit : * Quoi ! madame, je vous chasserai de votre 
maison 1 ' * Sire,' lui repondit-elle d'un ton ferme, ' un roi doit etre le 
maitre partout oil il est ; et pour moi, je suis bien aise d'avoir quelque 
pouvoir dans les lieux oil je me trouve.' Et, sans vouloir I'ecouter 
davantage, elle monta dans son coche, et alia coucher ^ deux lienes 
de 1^ chez une de ses amies." 



292 THE JESUITS XNB THEIR PATRONESS. [1610. 

suitor, but the virtue which repelled him was rein- 
forced by a devotion no less uncompromising. A 
rosary in her hand and a Jesuit at her side, she real- 
ized the utmost wishes of the subtle fathers who had 
moulded and who guided her. She readily took fire 
when they told her of the benighted souls of New 
France, and the wrongs of Father Biard kindled her 
utmost indignation. She declared herself the pro- 
tectress of the American missions; and the only 
difficulty, as a Jesuit writer tells us, was to restrain 
her zeal within reasonable bounds.^ 

She had two illustrious coadjutors. The first was 
the jealous Queen, whose unbridled rage and vulgar 
clamor had made the Louvre a hell. The second 
was Henriette d'Entragues, Marquise de Verneuil, 
the crafty and capricious siren who had awakened 
these conjugal tempests. To this singular coalition 
were joined many other ladies of the court; for the 
pious flame, fanned by the Jesuits, spread through 
hall and boudoir, and fair votaries of the Loves and 
Graces found it a more grateful task to win heaven 
for the heathen than to merit it for themselves. 

Young Biencourt saw it vain to resist. Biard must 
go with him in the returning ship, and also another 
Jesuit, Enemond Masse. The two fathers repaired 
to Dieppe, wafted on the wind of court favor, wliich 
they never doubted would bear them to their journey's 
end. Not so, however. Poutrincourt and his asso- 
ciates, in the dearth of their own resources, had bar- 

1 Charlevoix, I. 122. 



1610.] BIARD AND MASSE. 293 

gained with two Huguenot merchants of Dieppe, Du 
Jardin and Du Quesne, to equip and load the vessel, 
in consideration of their becoming partners in the 
expected profits. Their indignation was extreme 
when they saw the intended passengers. They 
declared that they would not aid in building up a 
colony for the profit of the King of Spain, nor risk 
their money in a venture where Jesuits were allowed 
to intermeddle ; and they closed with a flat refusal to 
receive them on board, unless, they added with 
patriotic sarcasm, the Queen would direct them to 
transport the whole order beyond sea.^ Biard and 
Masse insisted, on which the merchants demanded 
reimbursement for their outlay, as they would have 
no further concern in the business. 

Biard communicated with Father Coton, Father 
Coton with Madame de Guercheville. No more was 
needed. The zealous lady of honor, "indignant," 
says Biard, "to see the efforts of hell prevail," and 
resolved " that Satan should not remain master of the 
field, " set on foot a subscription, and raised an ample 
fund within the precincts of the court. Biard, in 
the name of the " Province of France of the Order of 
Jesus, " bought out the interest of the two merchants 
for thirty-eight hundred livres, thus constituting the 
Jesuits equal partners in business with their enemies. 
Nor was this all; for, out of the ample proceeds of 
the subscription, he lent to the needy associates a 
further sum of seven hundred and thirty-seven livres, 

1 Lescarbot (1618), 664. 



294 THE JESUITS AND THEIR PATRONESS. [1611. 

and advanced twelve Imndred and twenty-five more 
to complete the outfit of the ship. Well pleased, the 
triumphant priests now embarked, and friend and foe 
set sail together on the twenty-sixth of January, 
1611.1 

1 Contract d' Association des Jesuites au Trajique du Canada, 20 Jan., 
161 1 ; a certified copy of the original parchment. It is noteworthy that 
the first contract of the French Jesuits in America relates to a partner- 
ship to carry on the fur-trade. Compare Lescarbot (1618), 665 ; Biard, 
Relation, c. 12; Champlain (1632), 100; Charlevoix, I. 123; De Laet, 
Lib. IT. c. 21 ; Lettre du P, Pierre Biard au T. R. P. Claude Aguaviva, 
General de la Compagnie de Jesus d Rome, Dieppe, 21 Jan., 1611 ; Lettre 
du P. Biard au R. P. Christophe Balthazar, Provincial de France a 
Paris, Port Royal, 10 Juin, 1611; Lettre du P. Baird au T. R. P. Claude 
Aquaviva, Port Royal, 31 Jan. 1612. These letters form part of an in- 
teresting collection recently published by R. P. Auguste Carayon, S. J., 
under the title Premiere Mission des Jesuites au Canada (Paris, 1864). 
They are taken from the Jesuit archives at Rome. 



CHAPTER VI. 

1611, 1612. 

JESUITS IN ACADIA. 

The Jesuits arrive. "— Collision of Powers Temporal and 
Spiritual. — Excursion of Biencourt= — Biard's Indian 
Studies. — Misery at Port Royal. — Grant to Madame de 

GUERCHEVILLE. — GILBERT DU ThET. — QuARRELS. — AnATHE- 
MASo — TrUCEo 

The voyage was one of inordinate length, — beset, 
too, with icebergs, larger and taller, according to the 
Jesuit voyagers, than the Church of Notre Dame; 
but on the day of Pentecost their ship, " The Grace 
of God,'* anchored before Port Royal. Then first 
were seen in the wilderness of New France the close 
black cap, the close black robe, of the Jesuit father, 
and the features seamed with study and thought and 
discipline. Then first did this mighty Proteus, this 
many-colored Society of Jesus, enter upon that rude 
field of toil and woe, where, in after years, the 
devoted zeal of its apostles was to lend dignity to 
their order and do honor to humanity. 

Few were the regions of the known world to which 
the potent brotherhood had not stretched the vast 
network of its iiLfluence. Jesuits had disputed in 
theology with the bonzes of Japan, and taught 



296 JESUITS IN ACADIA. [1611. 

astronomy to the mandarins of China ; had wrought 
prodigies of sudden conversion among the followers of 
Brahma, preached the papal supremacy to Ahyssinian 
schismatics, carried the cross among the savages of 
Caffraria, wrought reputed miracles in Brazil, and 
gathered the tribes of Paraguay beneath their 
paternal sway. And now, with the aid of the Virgin 
and her votary at court, they would build another 
empire among the tribes of New France. The omens 
were sinister and the outset was unpropitious. The 
Society was destined to reap few laurels from the 
brief apostleship of Biard and Masse. 

When the voyagers landed, they found at Port 
Royal a band of half -famished men, eagerly expecting 
their succor. The voyage of four months had, how- 
ever, nearly exhausted their own very moderate stock 
of provisions, and the mutual congratulations of the 
old colonists and the new were damped by a vision of 
starvation. A friction, too, speedily declared itself 
between the spiritual and the temporal powers. 
Pontgravd's son, then trading on the coast, had 
exasperated the Indians by an outrage on one of their 
women, and, dreading the wrath of Poutrincourt, 
had fled to the woods. Biard saw fit to take his part, 
remonstrated for him with vehemence, gained his 
pardon, received his confession, and absolved him. 
The Jesuit says that he was treated with great con- 
sideration by Poutrincourt, and that he should be 
forever beholden to him. The latter, however, chafed 
at Biard's interference. 



1611.] EXCURSION OF BIENCOURT. 297 

"Father," he said, "I know my duty, and I beg 
you will leave me to do it. I, with my sword, have 
hopes of paradise, as well as you with your breviary. 
Show me my path to heaven. I will show you yours 
on earth." ^ 

He soon set sail for France, leaving his son 
Biencoiu^t in charge. This hardy young sailor, of 
ability and character beyond his years, had, on his 
visit to court, received the post of Vice- Admiral in 
the seas of New France, and in this capacity had a 
certain authority over the trading- vessels of St. Malo 
and Rochelle, several of which were upon the coast. 
To compel the recognition of tliis authority, and also 
to purchase provisions, he set out along with Biard in 
a boat filled with armed followers. His first colhsion 
was with young Pontgrave, who with a few men had 
built a trading-hut on the St. John, where he pro- 
posed to winter. Meeting with resistance, Biencourt 
took the whole party prisoners, in spite of the remon- 
strances of Biard. Next, proceeding along the coast, 
he levied tribute on four or five traders wintering at 
St. Croix, and, continuing his course to the Kennebec, 
found the Indians of that region greatly enraged at 
the conduct of certain English adventurers, who 
three or four years before had, as they said, set dogs 
upon them and otherwise maltreated them. These 
were the colonists under Popham and Gilbert, who in 
1607 and 1608 made an abortive attempt to settle 

1 Lescarbot, (1618,) 669. Compare Biard, Relation, c. 14; and 
Biard, Lettre au R. P. Chrlstophe Balthazar, in Carajon, 9. 



298 JESUITS IN ACADIA. [1611. 

near the mouth of the river. Nothing now was left 
of them but their deserted fort. The neighboring 
Indians were Abenakis, one of the tribes included by 
the French under the general name of Armouchiquois. 
Their disposition was doubtful, and it needed all the 
coolness of young Biencourt to avoid a fatal collision. 
On one occasion a curious incident took place. The 
French met six canoes full of warriors descending the 
Kennebec, and, as neither party trusted the other, 
the two encamped on opposite banks of the river. In 
the evening the Indians began to sing and dance. 
Biard suspected these proceedings to be an invocation 
of the Devil, and "in order," he says, "to thwart 
this accursed tyrant, I made our people sing a few 
church hymns, such as the Salve^ the Ave Maris 
Stella, and others. But being once in train, and 
getting to the end of their spiritual songs, they fell 
to singmg such others as they knew, and when these 
gave out they took to mimicking the dancing and 
singing of the Armouchiquois on the other side of the 
water ; and as Frenchmen are naturally good mimics, 
they did it so well that the Armouchiquois stopped to 
listen 5 at which our people stopped too; and then 
the Indians began again. You would have laughed 
to hear them, for they were Like two choirs answering 
each other in concert, and you would hardly have 
known the real Armoucliiquois from the sham ones." 

Before the capture of young Pontgrav^, Biard made 
him a visit at his camp, six leagues up the St. John. 
Pontgrav^'s men were sailors from St. Malo, between 



leil.J MEMBERTOU. 299 

whom and the other Frenchmen there was much ill 
blood. Biard had hardly entered the river when he 
saw the evening sky crimsoned with the dancing fires 
of a superb aurora borealis, and he and liis attendants 
marvelled what evil thing the prodigy might portend. 
Their Indian companions said that it was a sign of 
war. In fact, the night after they had joined 
Pontgrav^ a furious quarrel broke out in the camp, 
with abundant shouting, gesticulating, and swearing ; 
and, says the father, " I do not doubt that an accursed 
band of furious and sanguinary spirits were hovering 
about us all night, expecting every moment to see a 
horrible massacre of the few Christians in those parts ; 
but the goodness of God bridled their malice. No 
blood was shed, and on the next day the squall ended 
in a fine calm." 

He did not like the Indians, whom he describes as 
"lazy, gluttonous, irreligious, treacherous, cruel, and 
licentious." He makes an exception in favor of 
Membertou, whom he calls "the greatest, most 
renowned, and most redoubted savage that ever lived 
in the memory of man," and especially commends 
him for contenting himself with but one wife, hardly 
a superlative merit in a centenarian. Biard taught 
him to say the Lord's Prayer, though at the petition, 
"Give us this day our daily bread," the chief remon- 
strated, saying, "If I ask for nothing but bread, I 
shall get no fish or moose-meat." His protracted 
career was now drawing to a close, and, being brought 
to the settlement in a dying state, he was placed in 



300 JESUITS m ACADIA. [1611. 

Biard's bed and attended by the two Jesuits. He 
was as remarkable in person as in character, for he 
was bearded like a Frenchman. Though, alone 
among La Fl^che's converts, the Faith seemed to 
have left some impression upon him, he insisted on 
being buried with his heathen forefathers, but was 
persuaded to forego a wish fatal to his salvation, and 
slept at last in consecrated ground. 

Another of the scanty fruits of the mission was a 
little girl on the point of death, whom Biard had 
asked her parents to give him for baptism. " Take 
her and keep her, if you like," was the reply, "for 
she is no better than a dead dog." "We accepted 
the offer," says Biard, "in order to show them the 
difference between Christianity and their impiety; 
and after giving her what care we could, together 
with some instruction, we baptized her. We named 
her after Madame the Marquise de Guercheville, in 
gratitude for the benefits we have received from that 
lady, who can now rejoice that her name is already 
in heaven; for, a few days after baptism, the chosen 
soul flew to that place of glory." 
■ Biard's greatest difficulty was with the Micmac 
language. Young Biencourt was his best interpreter, 
and on common occasions served him well; but the 
moment that religion was in question he was, as it 
were, stricken dumb, — the reason being that the 
language was totally without abstract terms. Biard 
resolutely set himself to the study of it, — a hard 
and thorny path, on which he made small progress, 



1611.] DISCORD. — DESPONDENCY. 301 

and often went astray. Seated, pencil in hand, 
before some Indian squatting on the floor, whom with 
the bribe of a mouldy biscuit he had lured into the 
hut, he plied him with questions which he often 
neither would nor could answer. What was the 
Indian word for Faith, Hope, Charity, Sacrament, 
Baptism, Eiccharist, Trinity, Incarnation ? The 
perplexed savage, willing to amuse himself, and 
impelled, as Biard thinks, by the Devil, gave him 
scurrilous and unseemly phrases as the equivalent of 
things holy, which, studiously incorporated into the 
father's Indian catechism, produced on his pupils an 
effect the reverse of that intended. Biard's col- 
league. Masse, was equally zealous, and still less 
fortunate. He tried a forest life among the Indians 
with signal ill success. Hard fare, smoke, filth, the 
scolding of squaws, and the cries of children reduced 
him to a forlorn condition of body and mind, wore 
him to a skeleton, and sent him back to Port Royal 
without a single convert. 

The dark months wore slowly on. A band of half- 
famished men gathered about the huge fires of their 
barn-like hall, moody, sullen, and quarrelsome. 
Discord was here in the black robe of the Jesuit and 
the brown capote of the rival trader. The position 
of the wretched little colony may well provoke reflec- 
tion. Here lay the shaggy continent, from Florida 
to the Pole, outstretched in savage slumber along the 
sea, the stern domain of Nature, — or, to adopt the 
ready solution of the Jesuits, a realm of the powers 



302 JESUITS m ACADIA. [1612. 

of night, blasted beneath the sceptre of hell. On the 
banks of James River was a nest of woe-begone Eng- 
lishmen, a handful of Dutch fur-traders at the mouth 
of the Hudson, 1 and a few shivering Frenchmen 
among the snow-drifts of Acadia; while deep within 
the wild monotony of desolation, on the icy vergu of 
the great northern river, the hand of Champlain 
upheld the fleur-de-lis on the rock of Quebec. These 
were the advance guard, the forlorn hope of civiliza- 
tion, messengers of promise to a desert continent. 
Yet, unconscious of their high function, not content 
with inevitable woes, they were rent by petty jeal- 
ousies and miserable feuds; while each of these 
detached fragments of rival nationalities, scarcely 
able to maintain its own wretched existence on a few 
square miles, begrudged to the others the smallest 
share in a domain which all the nations of Europe 
could hardly have sufficed to fill. 

One evening, as the forlorn tenants of Port Royal 
sat together disconsolate, Biard was seized with a 
spirit of prophecy. He called upon Biencourt to 
serve out the little of wine that remained, — a pro- 
posal which met with high favor from the company 
present, though apparently with none from the youth- 
ful Vice-Admiral. The wine was ordered, however, 
and, as an unwonted cheer ran round the circle, the 
Jesuit announced that an inward voice told him how, 

1 It is not certain that the Dutch had any permanent trading-post 
here before 1613, when they had four houses at Manhattan. O'Calla- 
ghau, Hist. .New Netherland, I. 69. 



1612.] GRANT TO MADAME GUERCHEVILLE. 303 

within a month, they should see a ship from France. 
In truth, they saw one witliin a week. On the 
twenty-third of January, 1612, arrived a small vessel 
laden with a moderate store of provisions and abun- 
dant seeds of future strife. 

This was the expected succor sent by Poutrincourt. 
A series of ruinous voyages had exhausted his 
resources ; but he had staked all on the success of the 
colony, had even brought his family to Acadia, and 
he would not leave them and his companions to 
perish. 1 His credit was gone ; his hopes were dashed ; 
yet assistance was proffered, and, in his extremity, 
he was forced to accept it. It came from Madame 
de Guercheville and her Jesuit advisers. She offered 
to buy the interest of a thousand crowns in the enter- 
prise. The ill-omened succor could not be refused; 
but this was not all. The zealous protectress of the 
missions obtained from De Monts, whose fortunes, 
like those of Poutrincourt, had ebbed low, a transfer 
of all his claims to the lands of Acadia; while the 
young King, Louis the Thirteenth, was persuaded to 
give her, in addition, a new grant of all the territory 
of North America, from the St. Lawrence to Florida. 
Thus did Madame de Guercheville, or in other words, 
the Jesuits who used her name as a cover, become 
proprietors of the greater part of the future United 
States and British Provinces, The English colony 
of Virginia and the Dutch trading-houses of New 

* Biard, Epistola ex Portu-regali in Acadia, 1612. Biard says there 
was no other family in the colony. 



804 JESUITS m ACADIAo [1612. 

York were included within the limits of tliis destined 
Northern Paraguay; while Port Royal, the seigniory 
of the unfortunate Poutrincourt, was encompassed, 
like a petty island, by the vast domain of the Society 
of Jesus. They could not deprive him of it, since 
his title had been confirmed by the late King, but 
they flattered themselves, to borrow their own lan- 
guage, that he would be "confined as in a prison. "^ 
His grant, however, had been vaguely worded, and, 
while they held him restricted to an insignificant 
patch of ground, he claimed lordship over a wide 
and indefinite territory. Here was argument for end- 
less strife. Other interests, too, were adverse. 
Poutrincourt, in his discouragement, had abandoned 
his plan of liberal colonization, and now thought of 
nothing but beaver-skins. He wished to make a 
trading-post ; the Jesuits wished to make a mission. 

When the vessel anchored before Port Royal, 
Biencourt, with disgust and anger, saw another 
Jesuit landed at the pier. This was Gilbert du 
Thet, a lay brother, versed in affairs of this world, 
who had come out as representative and adminis- 
trator of Madame de Guercheville. Poutrincourt, 
also, had his agent on board; and, without the loss 
of a day, the two began to quarrel. A truce ensued; 
then a smothered feud, pervading the whole colony, 
and ending in a notable explosion. The Jesuits, 
chafing under the sway of Biencourt, had withdrawn 
without ceremony, and betaken themselves to the 

* Biard, Relation, c. 19. 



1612.] BIENCOURT AND THE PRIESTS. 305 

vessel, intending to sail for France. Biencoiirt, 
exasperated at such a breach of discipline, and fear- 
ing their representations at court, ordered them to 
return, adding that, since the Queen had commended 
them to his especial care, he could not, in conscience, 
lose sight of them. The indignant fathers excom- 
municated him. On this, the sagamore Louis, son of 
the grisly convert Membertou, begged leave to kill 
them; but Biencourt would not countenance this 
summary mode of relieving his embarrassment. He 
again, in the King's name, ordered the clerical muti- 
neers to return to the fort. Biard declared that he 
would not, threatened to excommunicate any who 
should lay hand on him, and called the Vice-Admiral 
a robber. His wrath, however, soon cooled; he 
yielded to necessity, and came quietly ashore, where, 
for the next three months, neither he nor his col- 
leagues would say mass, or perform any office of 
religion. 1 At length a change came over him; he 
made advances of peace, prayed that the past might 
be forgotten, said mass again, and closed with a 
petition that Brother du Thet might be allowed to go 
to France in a trading vessel then on the coast. His 
petition being granted, he wrote to Poutrincourt a 
letter overflowing with praises of his son; and, 
charged with this missive, Du Thet set sail. 

1 Lescarbot (1618), 676. Biard passes over the affair in silence. 
In his letters (see Carayon) prior to this time, he speaks favorably 
both of Biencourt and Poutrincourt. 



20 



CHAPTER YII. 

1613. 

LA SAUSSAYE.— ARGALL. 

Voyage of La Saussate. — Mount Desert. — Akgall at- 
tacks THE French. — Death of Du Thet. — St. Sauveur 

DESTROYED. 

Pending these squabbles, the Jesuits at home were 
far from idle. Bent on ridding themselves of 
Poutrincourt, they seized, in satisfaction of debts 
due them, all the cargo of his returning vessel, and 
involved him in a network of litigation. If we 
accept his own statements in a letter to his friend 
Lescarbot, he was outrageously misused, and indeed 
defrauded, by his clerical copartners, who at length 
had him thrown into prison. ^ Here, exasperated, 
weary, sick of Acadia, and anxious for the wretched 
exiles who looked to him for succor, the unfortunate 
man fell ill. Regaining his liberty, he again addressed 
himself with what strength remained to the forlorn 
task of sending relief to his son and his comrades. 

Scarcely had Brother Gilbert du Thet arrived in 
France, when Madame de Guercheville and her 
Jesuits, strong in court favor and in the charity of 

1 See the letter in Lescarbot (1618), 678. 



1613.] VOYAGE OF LA SAUSSAYE. 307 

wealthy penitents, prepared to take possession of 
their empire beyond sea. Contributions were asked, 
and not in vain; for the sagacious fathers, mindful 
of every spring of influence, had deeply studied the 
mazes of feminine psychology, and then, as now, 
were favorite confessors of the fair. It was on the 
twelfth of March, 1613, that the "Mayflower" of the 
Jesuits sailed from Honfleur for the shores of New 
England. She was the "Jonas," formerly in the 
service of De Monts, a small craft bearing forty-eight 
sailors and colonists, including two Jesuits, Father 
Quentin and Brother Du Thet. She carried horses, 
too, and goats, and was abundantly stored with all 
things needful by the pious munificence of her 
patrons. A courtier named La Saussaye was chief 
of the colony, Captain Charles Fleury commanded 
the ship,^ and, as she winged her way across the 
Atlantic, benedictions hovered over her from lordly 
halls and perfumed chambers. 

On the sixteenth of May, La Saussaye touched at 
La Heve, where he heard mass, planted a cross, and 
displayed the scutcheon of Madame de Guercheville. 
Thence, passing on to Port Royal, he found Biard, 
Masse, their servant-boy, an apothecary, and one man 
beside. Biencourt and his followers were scattered 
about the woods and shores, digging the tuberous 
roots called ground-nuts, catching alewives in the 

^ Rapport fait a VAmiraute de Rouen par Charles Fleury, Capitaine 
du Jonas, le 27 Aoust, 1614. I am indebted to M. Gabriel Gravier, of 
Rouen, for a copy of this document. 



308 LA SAUSSAYE. — AEGALL. [1613. 

brooks, and by similar expedients sustaining their 
miserable existence. Taking the two Jesuits on 
board, the voyagers steered for the Penobscot. A 
fog rose upon the sea. They sailed to and fro, grop- 
ing their way in blindness, straining their eyes 
through the mist, and trembling each instant lest 
they should descry the black outline of some deadly 
reef and the ghostly death-dance of the breakers. 
But Heaven heard their prayers. At night they 
could see the stars. ^ The sun rose resplendent on a 
laughing sea, and his morning beams streamed fair 
and full on the wild heights of the island of Mount 
Desert. They entered a bay that stretched inland 
between iron-bound shores, and gave it the name of 
St. Sauveur. It is now called Frenchman's Bay. 
They saw a coast-line of weather-beaten crags set 
thick with spruce and fir, the surf-washed cliffs of 
Great Head and Schooner Head, the rocky front of 
Newport Mountain, patched with ragged woods, the 
arid domes of Dry Mountain and Green Mountain, 
the round bristly backs of the Porcupine Islands, and 
the waving outline of the Gouldsborough Hills. 

La Saussaye cast anchor not far from Schooner 
Head, and here he lay till evening. The jet-black 
shade betwixt crags and sea, the pines along the 

1 " Suruint en mer vne si espaisse brume, qne nous n'y voyons pas 
plus de iour que de nuict. Nous apprehendions granderaent ce danger, 
parce qu'en cet endroict, il y a beaucoup de brisans et rochers. . . . 
De sa bont^, Dieu nous exau^a, car le soir mesme nous commen^asmes 
k voir les estoiles, et le matin les broue'es se dissiperent ; nous nous re- 
connusmes estre au deuant des Monts deserts," Biard, Relation, c. 23. 



1613.] MOUNT DESERT. 309 

cliff, pencilled against the fiery sunset, the dreamy 
slumber of distant mountains bathed in shadowy 
pui'ple, — such is the scene that in this our day greets 
the wandering artist, the roving collegian bivouacked 
on the shore, or the pilgrim from stifled cities renew- 
ing his jaded strength in the mighty life of Nature. 
Perhaps they then greeted the adventurous French- 
men. There was peace on the wilderness and peace 
on the sea ; but none in this missionary bark, pioneer 
of Christianity and civilization. A rabble of angry 
sailors clamored on her deck, ready to mutiny over 
the terms of their engagement. Should the time of 
their stay be reckoned from their landing at La Heve, 
or from their anchoring at Mount Desert? Fleury, 
the naval commander, took their part. Sailor, 
courtier, and priest gave tongue together in vocif- 
erous debate. Poutrincourt was far away, a ruined 
man, and the intractable Vice-Admiral had ceased 
from troubling! yet not the less were the omens of 
the pious enterprise sinister and dark. The com- 
pany, however, went ashore, raised a cross, and heard 
mass. 

At a distance in the woods they saw the signal 
smoke of Indians, whom Biard lost no time in visit- 
ing. Some of them were from a village on the shore, 
three leagues westward. They urged the French to 
go with them to their wigwams. The astute savages 
had learned already how to deal with a Jesuit. 

"Our great chief, Asticou, is there. He wishes 
for baptism. He is very sick. He will die unbap- 



310 LA SAUSSAYE. — ARGALL. [1613. 

tized. He will burn in hell, and it will be all your 
fault." 

This was enough. Biard embarked in a canoe, 
and they paddled him to the spot, where he found 
the great chief, Asticou, in his wigwam, with a 
heavy cold in the head. Disappointed of his chari- 
table purpose, the priest consoled himself with observ- 
ing the beauties of the neighboring shore, which 
seemed to him better fitted than St. Sauveur for the 
intended settlement. It was a gentle slope, descend- 
ing to the water, covered with tall grass, and backed 
by rocky hills. It looked southeast upon a harbor 
where a fleet might ride at anchor, sheltered from the 
gales by a cluster of islands.^ 

The ship was brought to the spot, and the colonists 
disembarked. First they planted a cross ; then they 
began their labors, and with their labors their quar- 

1 Biard says that the place was only three leagues from St. Sauveur, 
and that he could go and return in an afternoon. He adds that it was 
" separe de la grande Isle des Monts Deserts." He was evidently mis- 
taken in this. St. Sauveur being on the east side of Mount Desert, 
there is no place separated from it, and answering to his description, 
which he could have reached within the time mentioned. He no doubt 
crossed Mount Desert Sound, which, with Soames's Sound, nearly severs 
the island. The settlement must have been on the western side of 
Soames's Sound. Here, about a mile from the open sea, on the farm of 
Mr. Fernald, is a spot perfectly answering to the minute description of 
Biard : " Le terroir noir, gras, et fertile, .... la jolie coUine esleuee 
doucement sur la mer, et blaignee a ses costez de deux fontaines ; . . . . 
les petites islettes qui rompent les flots et les vents." The situation is 
highly picturesque. On the opposite or eastern shore of the sound are 
found heaps of clam-shells and other indications of an Indian village, 
probably that of Asticou. I am indebted to E. L. Hamlin, Esq., of 
Bangor, for pointing out this locality. 



1613.] THE E:N^EMY IN SIGHT. 311 

rels. La Saussaye, zealous for agriculture, wished 
to break ground and raise crops immediately; the 
rest opposed Mm, wishing first to be housed and 
fortified. Fleury demanded that the ship should be 
unladen, and La Saussaye would not consent.^ Debate 
ran high, when suddenly all was harmony, and the 
disputants were friends once more in the pacification 
of a common danger. 

Far out at sea, beyond the islands that sheltered 
their harbor, they saw an approaching sail; and as 
she drew near, straining their anxious eyes, they 
could descry the red flags that streamed from her 
masthead and her stern; then the black muzzles of 
her cannon, — they counted seven on a side ; then the 
throng of men upon her decks. The wind was brisk 
and fair; all her sails were set; she came on, writes 
a spectator, more swiftly than an arrow. ^ 

Six years before, in 1607, the ships of Captain 
Newport had conveyed to the banks of James River 
the first vital germ of English colonization on the 
continent. Noble and wealthy speculators, with 
Hispaniola, Mexico, and Peru for their inspiration, 
had combined to gather the fancied golden harvest of 
Virginia, received a charter from the Crown, and 
taken possession of their El Dorado. From tavern, 
gaming-house, and brothel was drawn the staple of 

1 Rapport de Fleury d. VAmirante de Rouen. 

2 " Le nauire Anglois renoit plus viste qu'un dard, ayant le vent ^ 
souhait, tont pauis de rogue, les pauillons d'Angleterre flottans, et trois 
trompettes et deux tambours faisans rage de sonner." Biard, Relation^ 
c. 25. 



312 LA SAUSSAYE. — ARGALL. [1613. 

the colony, — ruined gentlemen, prodigal sons, dis- 
reputable retainers, debauched tradesmen. Yet it 
would be foul slander to affirm that the founders of 
Virginia were all of this stamp; for among the riotous 
crew were men of worth, and, above them all, a hero 
disguised by the homeliest of names. Again and 
again, in direst woe and jeopardy, the infant settle- 
ment owed its life to the heart and hand of John 
Smith. 

Several years had elapsed since Newport's voyage ; 
and the colony, depleted by famine, disease, and an 
Indian war, had been recruited by fresh emigration, 
when one Samuel Argall arrived at Jamestown, 
captain of an illicit trading-vessel. He was a man 
of ability and force, — one of those compounds of 
craft and daring in which the age was fruitful ; for 
the rest, unscrupulous and grasping. In the spring 
of 1613 he achieved a characteristic exploit, — the 
abduction of Pocahontas, that most interesting of 
young squaws, or, to borrow the style of the day, of 
Indian princesses. Sailing up the Potomac he lured 
her on board his ship, and then carried off the bene- 
factress of the colony a prisoner to Jamestown. Here 
a young man of family, Rolfe, became enamoured of 
her, married her with more than ordinary ceremony, 
and thus secured a firm alliance between her tribes- 
men and the English. 

Meanwhile Argall had set forth on another enter- 
prise. With a ship of one hundred and tliirty tons, 
carrying fourteen guns and sixty men, he sailed in 



1613.] ARGALL AND THE INDIANS. 313 

May for islands off the coast of Maine to fish, as ho 
says, for cod.^ He had a more important errand; for 
Sir Thomas Dale, Governor of Virginia, had commis- 
sioned him to expel the French from any settlement 
they might have made within the limits of King 
James's patents. ^ Thick fogs involved him; and 
when the weather cleared he found himself not far 
from the Bay of Penobscot. Canoes came out from 
shore 5 the Indians climbed the ship's side, and, as 
they gained the deck, greeted the astonished English 
with an odd pantomime of bows and flourishes, 
which, in the belief of the latter, could have been 
learned from none but Frenchmen. ^ By signs, too, 
and by often repeating the word Norman^ — by which 
they always designated the French, — they betrayed 
the presence of the latter. Argall questioned them 
as well as his total ignorance of their language would 
permit, and learned, by signs, the position and 
numbers of the colonists. Clearly they were no 
match for him. Assuring the Indians that the 
Normans were his friends, and that he longed to see 
them, he retained one of the visitors as a guide, dis- 
missed the rest with presents, and shaped his course 
for Mount Desert.* 

1 Letter of Argall to Nicholas Hawes, June, 1613, in Purchas, IV. 
1764. 

2 Collections Mass. Hist. Soc, Fourth Series, IX. 41, 489. 

8 " . . . et aux ceremonies que les sauvages faisoient pour leur 
complaire, ils recognoissoient que c'etoient ceremonies de courtoisie et 
ciuilitez fran9oises." Biard, Relation, c. 25. 

* Holmes, American Annals, by a misapprehension of Champlain's 
narrative, represents Argall as having a squadron of eleven ships. He 
certainly had but one. 



314 LA SAUSSAYE. — ARGALL. [1613. 

Now the wild heights rose in view; now the Eng- 
lish could see the masts of a small ship anchored in 
the sound; and now, as they rounded the islands, 
four white tents were visible on the grassy slope 
between the water and the woods. They were a gift 
from the Queen to Madame de Guercheville and her 
missionaries. Argall's men prepared for fight, while 
their Indian guide, amazed, broke into a howl of 
lamentation. 

On shore all was confusion. Bailleul, the pilot, 
went to reconnoitre, and ended by hiding among the 
islands. La Saussaye lost presence of mind, and did 
nothing for defence. La Motte, his lieutenant, with 
Captain Fleury, an ensign, a sergeant, the Jesuit 
Du Thet, and a few of the bravest men, hastened on 
board the vessel, but had no time to cast loose her 
cables. Argall bore down on them, with a furious 
din of drums and trumpets, showed his broadside, 
and replied to their hail with a volley of cannon and 
musket shot. " Fire ! Fire ! " screamed Fleury. But 
there was no gunner to obey, till Du Thet seized and 
applied the match. "The cannon made as much 
noise as the enemy's," writes Biard; but, as the 
inexperienced artillerist forgot to aim the piece, no 
other result ensued. Another storm of musketry, 
and Brother Gilbert du Thet rolled helpless on the 
deck. 

The French ship was mute. The English plied 
her for a time with shot, then lowered a boat and 
boarded. Under the awnings which covered her, dead 



1813.] CONDUCT OF ARGALL. 315 

and wounded men lay strewn about her deck, and 
among them the brave lay brother, smothering in his 
blood. He had his wish ; for, on leaving France, he 
had prayed with uplifted hands that he might not 
return, but perish in that holy enterprise. Like the 
Order of which he was a humble member, he was a 
compound of qualities in appearance contradictory. 
La Motte, sword in hand, showed fight to the last, 
and won the esteem of his captors. ^ 

The English landed without meeting any show of 
resistance, and ranged at will among the tents, the 
piles of baggage and stores, and the buildings and 
defences newly begun. Argall asked for the com- 
mander, but La Saussaye had fled to the woods. The 
crafty Englishman seized his chests, caused the locks 
to be picked, searched till he found the royal letters 
and commissions, withdrew them, replaced every- 
thing else as he had found it, and again closed the 
lids. In the morning. La Saussaye, between the 
English and starvation, preferred the former, and 
issued from his hiding-place. Argall received him 
with studious courtesy. That country, he said, 
belonged to his master. King James. Doubtless they 
had authority from their own sovereign for thus 
encroaching upon it; and, for his part, he was pre- 
pared to yield all respect to the commissions of the 

^ Fleury, who was wounded, greatly blames the flight of La Saus- 
saye : " Si luy et ses diets compagnons eussent donne combat et se f us- 
sent defendus, le diet navire n'eust est^ prins." In a reply to complaints 
of the French ambassador, it was said that the French fired the first 
Shot. See Coll. Mass. Hist Soc, Fourth Series, IX. 489. 



316 LA SAUSSAYE. — ARGALL. [1613. 

King of France, that the peace between the two 
nations might not be disturbed. Therefore he prayed 
that the commissions might be shown to him. La 
Saussaye opened his chests. The royal signature 
was nowhere to be found. At this, ArgalPs courtesy 
was changed to wrath. He denounced the French- 
men as robbers and pirates who deserved the gallows, 
removed their property on board his ship, and spent 
the afternoon in dividing it among his followers. 
The disconsolate French remained on the scene of 
their woes, where the greedy sailors as they came 
ashore would snatch from them, now a cloak, now a 
hat, and now a doublet, till the unfortunate colonists 
were left half naked. In other respects the English 
treated their captives well, — except two of them, 
whom they flogged; and Argall, whom Biard, after 
recounting his knavery, calls "a gentleman of noble 
courage,'* having gained his point, returned to his 
former courtesy. 

But how to dispose of the prisoners ? Fifteen of 
them, including La Saussaye and the Jesuit Masse, 
were turned adrift in an open boat, at the mercy of 
the wilderness and the sea. Nearly all were lands- 
men ; but while their unpractised hands were strug- 
gling with the oars, they were joined among the 
islands by the fugitive pilot and his boat's crew. 
Worn and half starved, the united bands made their 
perilous way eastward, stopping from time to time to 
hear mass, make a procession, or catch codfish. 
Thus sustained in the spirit and in the flesh, cheered 



1613.] RESCUE OF THE PRISONERS. 317 

too by the Indians, who proved fast friends in need, 
they crossed the Bay of Fundy, doubled Cape Sable, 
and followed the southern coast of Nova Scotia, till 
they happily fell in with two French trading-vessels, 
which bore them in safety to St. Malo. 



CHAPTER Vm. 

1613-1615. 
RUm OF FRENCH ACADIA. 

The Jesuits at Jamestown. — Wkath of Sir Thomas Dale.— 
A New Expeditiox. — Port Royal demolished. — Equivocal 
Posture of the Jesuits. — Their Adventures. — The French 
will not abandon Acadia. 

" Praised be God, behold two thirds of our com- 
pany safe in France, telling their strange adventures 
to their relatives and friends. And now you will 
wish to know what befell the rest of us."^ Thus 
writes Father Biard, who with his companions in 
misfortune, fourteen in all, prisoners on board 
Argall's ship and the prize, were borne captive to 
Virginia. Old Point Comfort was reached at length, 
the site of Fortress Monroe; Hampton Roads, re- 
nowned in our day for the sea-fight of the Titans; 
Sewell's Point; the Rip Raps; Newport News, — all 
household words in the ears of this generation. Now, 
far on their right, buried in the damp shade of 
immemorial verdure, lay, untrodden and voiceless, 
the fields where stretched the leaguering lines of 

1 *' Dieu soit beny. Voyla ja les deux tiers de nostre troupe recon- 
duicts en France sains et sauues parraj leurs parents et amis, qui les 
oyent conter leurs grandes aventures. Ores cousequemment vous de- 
sirez scauoir ce qui deuieudra I'autre tiers." Biard, Relation, c. 28. 



1613.] WRATH OF SIR THOMAS DALE. 319 

Washington, where the lilies of France floated beside 
the banners of the new-born republic, and where in 
later years embattled treason confronted the manhood 
of an outraged nation.^ And now before them they 
could descry the masts of small craft at anchor, a 
cluster of rude dwellings fresh from the axe, scattered 
tenements, and fields green with tobacco. 

Throughout the voyage the prisoners had been 
soothed with flattering tales of the benignity of the 
Governor of Virginia, Sir Thomas Dale ; of his love 
of the French, and his respect for the memory of 
Henry the Fourth, to whom, they were told, he was 
much beholden for countenance and favor. On their 
landing at Jamestown, this consoling picture was 
reversed. The Governor fumed and blustered, talked 
of halter and gallows, and declared that he would 
hang them all. In vain Argall remonstrated, urging 
that he had pledged his word for their lives. Dale, 
outraged by their invasion of British territory, was 
deaf to all appeals ; till Argall, driven to extremity, 
displayed the stolen commissions, and proclaimed his 
stratagem, of which the French themselves had to 
that moment been ignorant. As they were accredited 
by their government, their lives at least were safe. 
Yet the wrath of Sir Thomas Dale still burned high. 
He summoned his council, and they resolved promptly 
to wipe off all stain of French intrusion from shores 
which King James claimed as his own. 

Their action was utterly unauthorized. The two 

1 Written immediately after the War of Secession. 



320 EUIN OF FRENCH ACADIA. [1613. 

kingdoms were at peace. James the First, by the 
patents of 1606, had granted all North America, 
from the thirty-fourth to the forty-fifth degree of 
latitude, to the two companies of London and 
Plymouth, — - Virginia being assigned to the former, 
while to the latter were given Maine and Acadia, 
with adjacent regions. Over these, though as yet 
the claimants had not taken possession of them, the 
authorities of Virginia had no color of jurisdiction. 
England claimed all North America, in virtue of the 
discovery of Cabot; and Sir Thomas Dale became 
the self-constituted champion of British rights, not 
the less zealous that his championship promised a 
harvest of booty. 

Argall's ship, the captured ship of La Saussaye, 
and another smaller vessel, were at once equipped 
and despatched on their errand of havoc. Argall 
commanded; and Biard, with Quentin and several ( 
others of the prisoners, were embarked with him.^ 
They shaped their course first for Mount Desert. 
Here they landed, levelled La Saussaye 's unfinished 
defences, cut down the French cross, and planted one 
of their own in its place. Next they sought out the 
island of St. Croix, seized a quantity of salt, and 
razed to the ground all that remained of the dilapi- 
dated buildings of De Monts. They crossed the Bay 

^ In his Relation, Biard does not explain the reason of his accom- 
panying the expedition. In his letter to the General of the Jesuits, 
dated Amiens, 26 May, 1614 (Carayon), he says that it was " dans le 
dessein de profiter de la premiere occasion qui se rencontrerait, pour 
nous renvoyer dans notre patrie." 



1613.] SECOND EXPEDITION OF ARGALL. 321 

of Fiindy to Port Royal, guided, says Biard, by an 
Indian chief, — an improbable assertion, since the 
natives of these coasts hated the English as much as 
they loved the French, and now well knew the 
designs of the former. The unfortunate settlement 
was tenantless. Biencourt, with some of his men, 
was on a visit to neighboring bands of Indians, while 
the rest were reaping in the fields on the river, two 
leagues above the fort. Succor from Poutrincourt 
had arrived during the summer. The magazines 
were by no means empty, and there were cattle, 
horses, and hogs in adjacent fields and enclosures. 
Exulting at their good fortune, Argall's men butch- 
ered or carried off the animals, ransacked the build- 
ings, plundered them even to the locks and bolts of 
the doors, and then laid the whole in ashes; "and 
may it please the Lord," adds the pious Biard, "that 
the sins therein committed may likewise have been 
consumed in that burning." 

Having demolished Port Royal, the marauders went 
in boats up the river to the fields where the reapers 
were at work. These fled, and took refuge behind 
the ridge of a hill, whence they gazed helplessly on 
the destruction of their harvest. Biard approached 
them, and, according to the declaration of Poutrin- 
court made and attested before the Admiralty of 
Guienne, tried to persuade them to desert his son, 
Biencourt, and take service with Argall. The reply 
of one of the men gave little encouragement for 
further parley : — 



322 mjm OF FRENCH ACADIA. [1613. 

"Begone, or I will split jour head with this 
hatchet." 

There is flat contradiction here between the narra- 
tive of the Jesuit and the accounts of Poutrincourt 
and contemporary English writers, who agree in 
affirming that Biard, " out of indigestible malice that 
he had conceived against Biencourt,"^ encouraged 
the attack on the settlements of St. Croix and Port 
Royal, and guided the English thither. The priest 
himself admits that both French and English regarded 
him as a traitor, and that his life was in danger. 
While Argall's ship was at anchor, a Frenchman 
shouted to the English from a distance that they 
would do well to kill him. The master of the ship, 
a Puritan, in his abomination of priests, and above 
all of Jesuits, was at the same time urging his com- 
mander to set Biard ashore and leave him to the 
mercy of his countrymen. In this pass he was saved, 
to adopt his own account, by what he calls his sim- 
plicity; for he tells us, that, while — instigated, like 
the rest of his enemies, by the Devil — the robber 
and the robbed were joining hands to ruin him, he 
was on his knees before Argall, begging him to take 
pity on the French, and leave them a boat, together 
with provisions to sustain their miserable lives 
through the winter. This spectacle of charity, he 
further says, so moved the noble heart of the com- 

^ Briefe Intelligence from Virginia by Letters. See Purchas, IV. 
1808. Compare Poutrincourt's letter to Lescarbot, in Lescarbot, 
(1618,) 684. Also, Plainte du Sieur de Poutrincourt devant le Juge de 
VAdmiraut4 de Guyenne, Lescarbot, 687. 



1613.] ARGALL AND BIENCOURT. 32S 

mander, that he closed his ears to all the promptings 
of foreign and domestic malice.^ 

The English had scarcely re-embarked, when 
Biencourt arrived with his followers, and beheld the 
scene of destruction. Hopelessly outnumbered, he 
tried to lure Argall and some of his officers into 
an ambuscade, but they would not be entrapped. 
Biencourt now asked for an interview. The word of 
honor was mutually given, and the two chiefs met in 
a meadow not far from the demolished dwellings. 
An anonymous English writer says that Biencourt 
offered to transfer his allegiance to King James, on 
condition of being permitted to remain at Port Royal 
and carry on the fur-trade under a guaranty of Eng- 
lish protection, but that Argall would not listen to 
his overtures.^ The interview proved a stormy one. 

1 " le ne S9ay qui secourut tant k propos le lesuite en ce danger que 
sa simplicite. Car tout de mesme que s'il eust este bien fauorise et 
qu'il eust pen beaucoup enuers ledit Anglois, il se mit a genoux deuant 
le Capitaine par deux diuerses fois et a deux diuerses occasions, k 
ceUe fin de le flechir ^ misericorde enuers les rran9ois du dit Port 
Royal esgares par les bois et pour luy persuader de leur laisser 
quelques viures, leur chaloupe et quelqu' autre moyen de passer 
I'hyuer. Et voyez combien differentes petitions on faisoit audit 
Capitaine; car au mesme tempts que le P. Biard le supplioit ainsi 
pour les Francois, vn Fran9ois crioit de loin, avec outrages et iniures, 
qu'il le falloit massacrer. 

"Or Argal, qui est d'vn cceur noble, voyant ceste tant sincere 
affection du lesuite, et de Fautre coste tant bestiale et enragee inbu- 
manite de ce Francois, laqueUe ne recognoissoit ny sa propre nation, 
ny bien-faicts, ny religion, ny estoit dompte par Taffliction et verges de 
Dieu, estima," etc. Biard, Relation, c. 29. He writes throughout in 
the third person. 

2 Briefe Intelligence, Purchas, IV. 1808. 



324 RUIN OF FRENCH ACADIA. [1613. 

Biard says that the Frenchmen vomited against him 
every species of malignant abuse. "In the mean 
time," he adds, "you will considerately observe to 
what madness the evil spirit exciteth those who sell 
themselves to him."^ 

According to Poutrincourt,^ Argall admitted that 
the priest had urged him to attack Port Royal. 
Certain it is that Biencourt demanded his surrender, 
frankly declaring that he meant to hang him. 
"Whilest they were discoursing together," says the 
old English writer above mentioned, "one of the 
savages, rushing suddenly forth from the Woods, and 
licentiated to come neere, did after his manner, with 
such broken French as he had, earnestly mediate a 
peace, wondring why they that seemed to be of one 
Country should vse others with such hostilitie, and 
that with such a forme of habit and gesture as made 
them both to laugh. "^ 

His work done, and, as he thought, the French 
settlements of Acadia effectually blotted out, Argall 
set sail for Virginia on the thirteenth of November. 
Scarcely was he at sea when a storm scattered the 
vessels. Of the smallest of the three nothing was 
ever heard. Argall, severely buffeted, reached his 
port in safety, having first, it is said, compelled the 
Dutch at Manhattan to aclaiowledge for a time the 



1 Biard, c. 29: "Cependaut vous remarquerez sagement iusques ^ 
quelle rage le maliu esprit agite ceux qui se vendent a luy," 

2 Plainte da Sieur de Poutrincoiirt, Lescarbot, (1618,) 689. 
8 Purchas, IV. 1808. 



1613.J ADVENTURES OF BIARD. 325 

sovereignty of King James. ^ The captured ship of 
La Saussaje, with Biard and his colleague Quentin 
on board, was forced to yield to the fury of the 
western gales, and bear away for the Azores. To 
Biard the change of destination was not unwelcome. 
He stood in fear of the truculent Governor of 
Virginia, and liis tempest-rocked slumbers were 
haunted with unpleasant visions of a rope's end.^ It 
seems that some of the French at Port Royal, disap- 
pointed in their hope of hanging him, had commended 
him to Sir Thomas Dale as a proper subject for the 
gallows, drawing up a paper, signed by six of them, 
and containing allegations of a nature well fitted to 
kindle the wrath of that vehement official. The 
vessel was commanded by Turnel, ArgalFs lieutenant, 
apparently an officer of merit, a scholar and linguist. 
He had treated his prisoner with great kindness, 
because, says the latter, " he esteemed and loved him 
for his naive simplicity and ingenuous candor. "^ 
But of late, thinking his kindness misplaced, he had 
changed it for an extreme coldness, preferring, in 
the words of Biard himself, "to think that the 

1 Description of the Province of New Albion, in Neio York Historical 
Collections, Second Series, I. 335. The statement is doubtful. It is 
supported, however, by the excellent autlioritj of Dr. O'Callaghan, 
History of Neiv Netherland, I. 69. 

* "Le Mareschal Thomas Deel (que vous avez ouy estre fort aspre 
en ses humeurs) , . . attendoit en bon deuotion le Pere Biard pour 
luy tost accourcir les voyages, luy faisant trouuer au milieu d'une 
eschelle le bout du raonde." Biard, Relation, c. 30, 33. 

8 "... 11 avoit faict estat de le priser et I'aymer pour sa naifua 
sfmplicite et ouuerte candeur." Ibid., c. 30. 



326 RUIN OF FRENCH ACADIA. [1613. 

Jesuit had lied, rather than so many who accused 
him."i 

Water ran low, provisions began to fail, and they 
eked out their meagre supply by butchering the 
horses taken at Port Royal. At length they came 
within sight of Fayal, when a new terror seized the 
minds of the two Jesuits. Might not the English- 
men fear that their prisoners would denounce them 
to the fervent Catholics of that island as pirates and 
sacrilegious kidnappers of priests? From such 
hazard the escape was obvious. What more simple 
than to drop the priests into the sea ? ^ In truth, the 
English had no little dread of the results of confer- 
ence between the Jesuits and the Portuguese authori- 
ties of Fayal; but the conscience or humanity of 
Turnel revolted at the expedient which awakened 
such apprehension in the troubled mind of Biard. 
He contented himself with requiring that the two 
priests should remain hidden while the ship lay off 
the port: Biard does not say that he enforced the 
demand either by threats or by the imposition of 
oaths. He and his companion, however, rigidly com- 
plied with it, lying close in the hold or imder the 
boats, while suspicious officials searched the ship, — 
a proof, he triumphantly declares, of the audacious 

^ " . . . il aimoit mieux croire que le lesuite fust menteur que non 
pas tant d'autres qui Taccusoyent." Ibid. 

2 " Ce souci nous inquietait fort. Qu'allaient-ils faire'? Nous jette- 
raient-ils k I'eau? " Lettre du P. Biard au T. R. P. Claude Aquaviva, 
Amiens, 2^ Mai, 1614, in Carayon, 106. Like all Biard's letters to 
Aquaviva, this is translated from the original Latin. 



1613.] ADVENTURES OF BIARD. 327 

malice which has asserted it as a tenet of Rome that 
no faith need be kept with heretics. 

Once more at sea, Turnel shaped his course foy 
home, having, with some difficulty, gained a supply 
of water and provisions at Fayal. All was now 
harmony between him and his prisoners. When he 
reached Pembroke, in Wales, the appearance of the 
vessel — a French craft in English hands — again 
drew upon him the suspicion of piracy. The Jesuits, 
dangerous witnesses among the Catholics of Fayal, 
could at the worst do little harm with the Yice- 
Admiral at Pembroke. To him, therefore, he led 
the prisoners, in the sable garb of their order, now 
much the worse for wear, and commended them as 
persons without reproach, "wherein," adds the 
modest father, "he spoke the truth." ^ The result 
of their evidence was, we are told, that Turnel was 
henceforth treated, not as a pirate, but, according to 
his deserts, as an honorable gentleman. This inter- 
view led to a meeting with certain dignitaries of the 
Anglican Church, who, much interested in an en- 
counter with Jesuits in their robes, were filled, says 
Biard, with wonder and admiration at what they 
were told of their conduct. ^ He explains that these 
churchmen differ widely in form and doctrine from 
the English Calvinists, who, he says, are called 
Puritans ; and he adds that they are superior in every 

1 ". . . gens irreprochables, ce disoit-il, et disoit vray.** Baird, 
Relation, c. 32. 

2 " . . . et les ministres en demonstrojent grands signes estonne- 
ment et d^admiration." Ibid., c. 31. 



328 RUIN OF FRENCH ACADIA. [1614. 

respect to these, whom they detest as an execrable 
pest.^ 

Biard was sent to Dover and thence to Calais, 
returning, perhaps, to the tranquil honors of his 
chair of theology at Lyons. La Saussaye, La Motte, 
Fleury, and other prisoners were at various times 
sent from Virginia to England, and ultimately to 
France. Madame de Guercheville, her pious designs 
crushed in the bud, seems to have gained no further 
satisfaction than the restoration of the vessel. The 
French ambassador complained of the outrage, but 
answer was postponed; and, in the troubled state of 
France, the matter appears to have been dropped. ^ 

Argall, whose violent and crafty character was 
offset by a gallant bearing and various traits of mar- 
tial virtue, became Deputy-Governor of Virginia, 
and, under a military code, ruled the colony with a 
rod of iron. He enforced the observance of Sunday 
with an edifying rigor. Those who absented them- 
selves from church were, for the first offence, impris- 
oned for the night, and reduced to slavery for a 
week ; for the second offence, enslaved a month j and 
for the third, a year. Nor was he less strenuous in 
his devotion to mammon. He enriched himself by 
extortion and wholesale peculation; and his auda- 
cious dexterity, aided by the countenance of the Earl 
of Warwick, who is said to have had a trading con- 

1 " . . . et les detestent comme peste execrable." Ihid.^ c. 32. 

* Order of Council respecting certain claims against Capt. Argall, etc 
Answer to the preceding Order. See Colonial Documents of New York, 
III. 1, 2. 



1615.] POUTRINCOURT. — PORT ROYAL. 829 

nection with him, thwarted all the efforts of the 
company to bring him to account. In 1623, he was 
knighted by the hand of King James. ^ 

Early in the spring following the English attack, 
Poutrincourt came to Port Royal. He found the 
place in ashes, and his unfortunate son, with the 
men under his command, wandering houseless in 
the forests. They had passed a winter of extreme 
misery, sustaining their wretched existence with 
roots, the buds of trees, and lichens peeled from the 
rocks. 

Despairing of his enterprise, Poutrincourt returned 
to France. In the next year, 1615, during the civil 
disturbances which followed the marriage of the 
King, command was given him of the royal forces 
destined for the attack on M^ry; and here, happier 
in his death than in his life, he fell, sword in hand.^ 

In spite of their reverses, the French kept hold on 
Acadia. 2 Biencourt, partially at least, rebuilt Port 
Royal; while winter after winter the smoke of fur 
traders' huts curled into the still, sharp air of these 



^ Argall's history may be gleaned from Purchas, Smith, Stith, 
Gorges, Beverly, etc. An excellent summary will be found in Bel- 
knap's A7nei'ica7i Biography ^ and a briefer one in Allen's. 

2 NobUissimi Herois Potrincurtii Epitaphium, Lescarbot (1618), 694, 
He took the town, but was killed immediately after by a treacherous 
shot, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. He was buried on his barony 
of St. Just. 

3 According to Biard, more than five hundred French vessels sailed 
annually, at this time, to America, for the whale and cod fishery and 
the fur-trade. 



330 KUm OF FKENCH ACADIA. [1615. 

frosty wilds, till at length, with happier auspices, 
plans of settlement were resumed.^ 
^ Rude hands strangled the " Northern Paraguay " in 
its birth. Its beginnings had been feeble, but behind 
were the forces of a mighty organization, at once 
devoted and ambitious, enthusiastic and calculating. 
Seven years later the " Mayflower " landed her emi- 
grants at Plymouth. What would have been the 
issues had the zeal of the pious lady of honor preoc- 
cupied New England with a Jesuit colony? 

In an obscure stroke of lawless violence began the 
strife of France and England, Protestantism and 
Rome, which for a century and a half shook the 
struggling communities of North America, and closed 
at last in the memorable triumph on the Plains of 
Abraham. 



1 There is an autograph letter in the Archives de la Marine from 
Biencourt, — who had succeeded to his father's designation, — written 
at Port Royal in September, 1618, and addressed " aux Autorites de 
la Ville de Paris," in which he urges upon them the advantages of 
establishing fortified posts in Acadia, thus defending it against in- 
cursions of the English, who had lately seized a French trader from 
Dieppe, and insuring the continuance and increase of the trafiic in 
furs, from which the city of Paris derived such advantages. More- 
over, he adds, it will serve as an asylum for the indigent and suffering 
of the city, to their own great benefit and the advantage of the muni- 
cipality, who will be relieved of the burden of their maintenance. It 
does not appear that the city responded to his appeal. 



CHAPTER IX. 

1608, 1609. 

CHAMPLAIN AT QUEBEC. 

A New Enterprise. — The St. Lawrence. — Conflict with 
Basques. — Tadouss ac. — Quebec founded. — Conspiracy. — 
Winter. — The Montagnais. — Spring. — Projects of Explo' 
ration. 

A LONELY ship sailed up the St. Lawrence. The 
white whales floundering in the Bay of Tadoussac, 
and the wild duck diving as the foaming prow drew 
near, — there was no life but these in all that watery- 
solitude, twenty miles from shore to shore. The 
ship was from Honfleur, and was commanded by 
Samuel de Champlain. He was the JEneas of a 
destined people, and in her womb lay the embryo life 
of Canada. 

De Monts, after his exclusive privilege of trade 
was revoked and his Acadian enterprise ruined, had, 
as we have seen, abandoned it to Poutrincourt. 
Perhaps would it have been well for him had he 
abandoned with it all Transatlantic enterprises ; but 
the passion for discovery and the noble ambition of 
founding colonies had taken possession of his mind. 
These, rather than a mere hope of gain, seem to 
have been his controlling motives ; yet the profits of 



832 CHAMPLAIN" AT QUEBEC. [1608. 

the fur-trade were vital to the new designs he was 
meditating, to meet the heavy outlay they demanded, 
and he solicited and obtained a fresh monopoly of the 
traffic for one year.^ 

Champlain was, at the time, in Paris ; but his un- 
quiet thoughts turned westward. He was enamoured 
of the New World, whose rugged charms had seized 
his fancy and his Heart; and as explorers of Arctic 
seas have pined in their repose for polar ice and 
snow, so did his restless thoughts revert to the fog- 
wrapped coasts, the piny odors of forests, the noise of 
waters, the sharp and piercing sunlight, so dear to his 
remembrance. He longed to unveil the mystery of that 
boundless wilderness, and plant the Catholic faith and 
the power of France amid its ancient barbarism. 

Five years before, he had explored the St. Lawrence 
as far as the rapids above Montreal. On its banks, 
as he thought, was the true site for a settlement, — a 
fortified post, whence, as from a secure basis, the 
waters of the vast interior might be traced back 
towards their sources, and a western route discovered 
to China and Japan. For the fur-trade, too, the 
innumerable streams that descended to the great 
river might all be closed against foreign intrusion by 
a single fort at some commanding point, and made 
tributary to a rich and permanent commerce ; while 
— and this was nearer to his heart, for he had often 
been heard to say that the saving of a soul was worth 

more than the conquest of an empire — countless 

J 

1 See the patent in Champlain (1613), 163. 



1608.] TADOUSSAC. 333 

savage tribes, in the bondage of Satan, might by the 
same avenues be reached and redeemed. 

De Monts embraced his views ; and, fitting out two 
ships, gave command of one to the elder Pontgrave, 
of the other to Champlain. The former was to trade 
with the Indians and bring back the cargo of furs 
which, it was hoped, would meet the expense of the 
voyage. To Champlain fell the harder task of settle- 
ment and exploration. 

Pontgravd, laden with goods for the Indian trade 
of Tadoussac, sailed from Honfleur on the fifth of 
April, 1608. Champlain, with men, arms, and stores 
for the colony, followed, eight days later. On the 
fifteenth of May he was on the Grand Bank; on the 
thirtieth he passed Gaspe, and on the third of June 
neared Tadoussac. No living thing was to be seen. 
He anchored, lowered a boat, and rowed into the 
port, round the rocky point at the southeast, then, 
from the fury of its winds and currents, called La 
Pointe de Tons les Diables.^ There was life enough 
within, and more than he cared to find. In the still 
anchorage under the cliffs lay Pontgrav^'s vessel, 
and at her side another ship, which proved to be a 
Basque fur-trader. 

Pontgrav^, arriving a few days before, had found 
himself anticipated by the Basques, who were busied 
in a brisk trade with bands of Indians cabined along 
the borders of the cove. He displayed the royal 

1 Champlain (1613), 166. Also dialled La Pointe aux Rocherg* 
Ibid. (1632), 119. 



334 CHAMPLAIN AT QUEBEC. [1608. 

letters, and commanded a cessation of the prohibited 
traffic; but the Basques proved refractory, declared 
that they would trade in spite of the King, fired on 
Pontgrave with cannon and musketry, wounded him 
and two of his men, and killed a third. They then 
boarded his vessel, and carried away all his cannon, 
small arms, and ammunition, saying that they would 
restore them when they had finished their trade and 
were ready to return home. 

Champlain found his comrade on shore, in a dis- 
abled condition. The Basques, though still strong 
enough to make fight, were alarmed for the conse- 
quences of their conduct, and anxious to come to 
terms. A peace, therefore, was signed on board 
their vessel ; all differences were referred to the judg- 
ment of the French courts, harmony was restored, 
and the choleric strangers betook themselves to 
catching whales. 

This port of Tadoussac was long the centre of the 
Canadian fur-trade. A desolation of barren moun- 
tains closes round it, betwixt whose ribs of rugged 
granite, bristling with savins, birches, and firs, the 
Saguenay rolls its gloomy waters from the northern 
wilderness. Centuries of civilization have not tamed 
the wildness of the place ; and still, in grim repose, 
the mountains hold their guard around the waveless 
lake that glistens in their shadow, and doubles, in its 
sullen mirror, crag, precipice, and forest. 

Near the brink of the cove or harbor where the 
vessels lay, and a little below the mouth of a brook 



1608.] TADOUSSAC. 835 

which formed one of the outlets of this small lake, 
stood the remains of the wooden barrack built by 
Chauvin eight years before. Above the brook were 
the lodges of an Indian camp,i — stacks of poles 
covered with birch-bark. They belonged to an 
Algonquin horde, called Montagnais, denizens of 
surrounding wilds, and gatherers of their only har- 
vest, — skins of the moose, caribou, and bear , fur 
of the beaver, marten, otter, fox, wild-cat, and lynx. 
Nor was this all, for there were intermediate traders 
betwixt the French and the shivering bands who 
roamed the weary stretch of stunted forest between 
the head-waters of the Saguenay and Hudson's Bay. 
Indefatigable canoe-men, in their birchen vessels, 
light as egg-shells, they threaded the devious tracks 
of countless rippling streams, shady by-ways of the 
forest, where the wild duck scarcely finds depth to 
swim; then descended to their mart along those 
scenes of picturesque yet dreary grandeur which 
steam has made familiar to modern tourists. With 
slowly moving paddles, they glided beneath the cliff 
whose shaggy brows frown across the zenith, and 
whose base the deep waves wash with a hoarse and hol- 
low cadence ; and they passed the sepulchral Bay of 
the Trinity, dark as the tide of Acheron, — a sanctu- 
ary of solitude and silence ; depths which, as the fable 
runs, no sounding line can fathom, and heights at 
whose dizzy verge the wheeling eagle seems a speck. ^ 

1 Plan du Port de Tadoussac, Champlain (1613), 172. 

* Bouchette estimates the height of these cliffs at eighteen hundred 



336 CHAMPLAIN AT QUEBEC. [1608. 

Peace being established with the Basques, and the 
wounded Pontgravd busied, as far as might be, in 
transferring to the hold of his ship the rich lading of 
the Indian canoes, Champlain spread his sails, and 
again held his course up the St. Lawrence. Far to the 
south, in sun and shadow, slumbered the woody moun- 
tains whence fell the countless springs of the St. John, 
behind tenantless shores, now white with glimmer- 
ing villages, — La Chenaie, Granville, Kamouraska, 
St. Roche, St. Jean, Vincelot, Berthier. But on 
the north the jealous wilderness still asserts its sway, 
crowding to the river's verge its walls, domes, and 
towers of granite; and, to this hour, its solitude is 
scarcely broken. 

Above the point of the Island of Orleans, a con- 
striction of the vast channel narrows it to less than 
a mile, with the green heights of Point Levi on one 
side, and on the other the cliffs of Quebec. ^ Here, 

feet. They overhang the river and bay. The scene is one of the most 
remarkable on the continent. 

1 The origin of this name has been disputed, but there is no good 
ground to doubt its Indian origin, which is distinctly affirmed by 
Champlain and Lescarbot. Charlevoix, i^asfes Chronologiques (1608), 
derives it from the Algonquin word Quebeio, or Quelibec, signifying a 
narrowing or contracting {r€trecissement). A half-breed Algonquin told 
Garneau that the word Quebec, or Ouabec, means a strait. The same 
writer was told by M. Malo, a missionary among the Micmacs, a 
branch of the Algonquins, that in their dialect the word Kibec had the 
same meaning. Martin says, " Les Algonquins I'appellent Ouabec, et 
les Micmacs Kebeque, c'est a dire, 'la oil la riviere est fermee.'" 
(Martin's Bressani, App., 326.) The derivations given by La Potherie, 
Le Beau, and others, are purely fanciful. The circumstance of the 
word Quebec being found engraved on the ancient seal of Lord Suffolk 
(see Hawkins, Picture of Quebec) can only be regarded as a curious 



1608.] QUEBEC. 337 

a small stream, the St. Charles, enters the St. 
Lawrence, and in the angle betwixt them rises the 
promontory, on two sides a natural fortress. Between 
the cliffs and the river lay a strand covered with 
walnuts and other trees. From this strand, by a 
rough passage gullied downward from the place where 
Prescott Gate now guards the way, one might climb 
the heights to the broken plateau above, now bur- 
dened with its ponderous load of churches, convents, 
dwellings, ramparts, and batteries. Thence, by a 
gradual ascent, the rock sloped upward to its highest 
summit, Cape Diamond,^ looking down on the St. 
Lawrence from a height of three hundred and fifty 
feet. Here the citadel now stands; then the fierce 
sun fell on the bald, baking rock, with its crisped 
mosses and parched lichens. Two centuries and a 
half have quickened the solitude with swarming life, 
covered the deep bosom of the river with barge and 
steamer and gliding sail, and reared cities and vil- 
lages on the site of forests; but nothing can destroy 
the surpassing grandeur of the scene. 

On the strand between the water and the cliffs 
Champlain's axemen fell to their work. They were 
pioneers of an advancing host, — advancing, it is 

coincidence. In Cartier's times the site of Quebec was occupied by a 
tribe of the Iroquois race, who called their village Stadacone. The 
Hurons called it, says Sagard, Atou-ta-requee. In the modern Huron 
dialect, Tiatou-ta-riti means the narrows. 

1 Champlain calls Cape Diamond Mont du Gas (Guast), from the 
family name of De Monts. He gives the name of Cape Diamond to 
Fointe a Puiseaux. See Map of Quebec (1613) 

22 



338 CHAMPLAIN AT QUEBEC. [1608 

true, with feeble and uncertain progress, —priests, 
soldiers, peasants, feudal scutcheons, royal insignia: 
not the Middle Age, but engendered of it by the 
stronger life of modern centralization, sharply stamped 
with a parental likeness, heir to parental weakness 
and parental force. 

In a few weeks a pile of wooden buildings rose on 
the brink of the St. Lawrence, on or near the site of 
the market-place of the Lower Town of Quebec.^ 
The pencil of Champlain, always regardless of pro- 
portion and perspective, has preserved its likeness. 
A strong wooden wall, surmounted by a gallery loop- 
holed for musketry, enclosed three buildings, con- 
taining quarters for himself and his men, together 
with a courtyard, from one side of which rose a tall 
dove-cot, like a belfry. A moat surrounded the 
whole, and two or three small cannon were planted 
on salient platforms towards the river. There was a 
large storehouse near at hand, and a part of the 
adjacent ground was laid out as a garden. 

In this garden Champlain was one morning direct- 
ing his laborers, when Tetu, his pilot, approached 
him with an anxious countenance, and muttered a 
request to speak with him in private. Champlain 
assenting, they withdrew to the neighboring woods, 
when the pilot disburdened himself of his secret. 
One Antoine Natel, a locksmith, smitten by con- 
science or fear, had revealed to him a conspiracy to 
murder his commander and deliver Quebec into the 

^ Compare Faribault, Voyages de Decouverte an Canada, 105. 



1608.] CONSPIRACY DISCOVERED. 339 

hands of the Basques and Spaniards then at Tadoussac. 
Another locksmith, named Duval, was author of the 
plot, and, with the aid of three accomplices, had 
befooled or frightened nearly all the company into 
taking part in it. Each was assured that he should 
make his fortune, and all were mutually pledged to 
poniard the first betrayer of the secret. The critical 
point of their enterprise was the killing of Champlain. 
Some were for strangling him, some for raising a 
false alarm in the night and shooting him as he came 
out from his quarters. 

Having heard the pilot's story, Champlain, remain- 
ing in the woods, desired his informant to find 
Antoine Natel, and bring him to the spot. Natel 
soon appeared, trembling with excitement and fear, 
and a close examination left no doubt of the truth of 
his statement. A small vessel, built by Pontgrav^ 
at Tadoussac, had lately arrived, and orders were 
now given that it should anchor close at hand. On 
board was a young man in whom confidence could be 
placed. Champlain sent him two bottles of wine, 
with a direction to tell the four ringleaders that they 
had been given him by his Basque friends at 
Tadoussac, and to invite them to share the good 
cheer. They came aboard in the evening, and were 
seized and secured. "Voyla done mes galants bien 
estonnez," writes Champlain. 

It was ten o'clock, and most of the men on shore 
were asleep. They were wakened suddenly, and 
told of the discovery of the plot and the arrest of the 



340 CHAMPLATN" AT QUEBEC. [1608. 

ringleaders. Pardon was tlien promised them, and 
they were dismissed again to their beds, greatly 
relieved; for they had lived in trepidation, each 
fearing the other. Duval's body, swinging from a 
gibbet, gave wholesome warning to those he had 
seduced ; and his head was displayed on a pike, from 
the highest roof of the buildings, food for birds and 
a lesson to sedition. His three accomplices were 
carried by Pontgrav^ to France, where they made 
their atonement in the galleys. ^ 

It was on the eighteenth of September that 
Pontgrave set sail, leaving Champlain with twenty- 
eight men to hold Quebec through the winter. Three 
weeks later, and shores and hills glowed with gay 
prognostics of approaching desolation, — the yellow 
and scarlet of the maples, the deep purple of the ash, 
the garnet hue of young oaks, the crimson of the 
tupelo at the water's edge, and the golden plumage 
of birch saplings in the fissures of the cliff. It was 
a short-lived beauty. The forest dropped its festal 
robes. Shrivelled and faded, they rustled to the 
earth. The crystal air and laughing sun of October 
passed away, and November sank upon the shivering 
waste, chill and sombre as the tomb. 

A roving band of Montagnais had built their huts 
near the buildings, and were busying themselves 
with their autumn eel-fishery, on which they greatly 
relied to sustain their miserable lives through the 
winter. Their slimy harvest being gathered, and 

1 Lescarbot (1612), 623; Purchas?, IV. 1642. 



1608.] THE MONTAGNATS. 341 

duly smoked and dried, they gave it for safe-keeping 
to Champlain, and set out to hunt beavers. It was 
deep in the winter before they came back, reclaimed 
their eels, built their birch cabins again, and disposed 
themselves for a life of ease, until famine or their 
enemies should put an end to their enjoyments. 
These were by no means without alloy. While, 
gorged with food, they lay dozing on piles of branches 
in their smoky huts, where, through the crevices of 
the thin birch bark, streamed in a cold capable at 
times of congealing mercury, their slumbers were 
beset with nightmare visions of Iroquois forays, scalp- 
ings, butcherings, and burnings. As dreams were 
their oracles, the camp was wild with fright. They 
sent out no scouts and placed no guard; but, with 
each repetition of these nocturnal terrors, they came 
flocking in a body to beg admission within the fort. 
The women and children were allowed to enter the 
yard and remain during the night, while anxious 
fathers and jealous husbands shivered in the darkness 
without. 

On one occasion, a group of wretched beings was 
seen on the farther bank of the St. Lawrence, like 
wild animals driven by famine to the borders of the 
settler's clearing. The river was full of drifting ice, 
and there was no crossing without risk of life. The 
Indians, in their desperation, made the attempt; and 
midway their canoes were ground to atoms among 
the tossing masses. Agile as wild-cats, they all 
leaped upon a huge raft of ice, the squaws carrying 



342 CHAMPLAIN" AT QUEBEC. [1609. 

tlieir children on their shoulders, a feat at which 
Champlain marvelled when he saw their starved and 
emaciated condition. Here they began a wail of 
despair; when happily the pressure of other masses 
thrust the sheet of ice against the northern shore. 
They landed and soon made their appearance at the 
fort, worn to skeletons and horrible to look upon. 
The French gave them food, which they devoured 
with a frenzied avidity, and, unappeased, fell upon a 
dead dog left on the snow by Champlain for two 
months past as a bait for foxes. They broke this 
carrion into fragments, and thawed and devoured it, 
to the disgust of the spectators, who tried vainly to 
prevent them. 

This was but a severe access of the periodical 
famine which, during winter, was a normal condition 
of the Algonquin tribes of Acadia and the Lower St. 
Lawrence, who, unlike the cognate tribes of New 
England, never tilled the soil, or made any reasonable 
provision against the time of need. 

One would gladly know how the founders of 
Quebec spent the long hours of their first winter ; but 
on this point the only man among them, perhaps, 
who could write, has not thought it necessary to 
enlarge. He himself beguiled his leisure with trap- 
ping foxes, or hanging a dead dog from a tree and 
watching the hungry martens in their efforts to reach 
it. Towards the close of winter, all found abundant 
employment in nursing themselves or their neighbors, 
for the inevitable scurvy broke out with virulence. 



1609.] DETERMINATION TO EXPLORE. 343 

At the middle of May, only eight men of the twenty- 
eight were alive, and of these half were suffering 
from disease.^ 

This wintry purgatory wore away; the icy stalac- 
tites that hung from the cliffs fell crashing to the 
earth; the clamor of the wild geese was heard; the 
bluebirds appeared in the naked woods; the water- 
willows were covered with their soft caterpillar-like 
blossoms ; the twigs of the swamp maple were flushed 
with ruddy bloom ; the ash hung out its black tufts ; 
the shad-bush seemed a wreath of snow; the white 
stars of the bloodroot gleamed among dank, fallen 
leaves ; and in the young grass of the wet meadows 
the marsh-marigolds shone like spots of gold. 

Great was the joy of Champlain when, on the fifth 
of June, he saw a sailboat rounding the Point of 
Orleans, betokening that the spring had brought 
with it the longed for succors. A son-in-law of 
Pontgrave, named Marais, was on board, and he 
reported that Pontgrave was then at Tadoussac, 
where he had lately arrived. Thither Champlain 
hastened, to take counsel with his comrade. His 
constitution or his courage had defied the scurvy. 
They met, and it was determined betwixt them, that, 
while Pontgrav^ remained in charge of Quebec, 
Champlain should enter at once on his long-meditated 
explorations, by which, like La Salle seventy years 
later, he had good hope of finding a way to China. 

But there was a lion in the path. The Indian 

1 Champlain (1613), 205. 



344 CHAMPLAIN AT QUEBEC. [1600. 

tribes, to whom peace was unknown, infested with 
their scalping parties the streams and pathways of 
the forest, and increased tenfold its inseparable risks. 
The after career of Champlain gives abundant proof 
that he was more than indifferent to all such chances ; 
yet now an expedient for evading them offered itself, 
so consonant with his instincts that he was glad to 
accept it. 

During the last autumn, a young chief from the 
banks of the then unknown Ottawa had been at 
Quebec ; and, amazed at what he saw, he had begged 
Champlain to join him in the spring against his ene- 
mies. These enemies were a formidable race of 
savages, — the Iroquois, or Five Confederate Nations, 
who dwelt in fortified villages within limits now 
embraced by the State of New York, and who were a 
terror to all the surrounding forests. They were 
deadly foes of their kindred the Hurons, who dwelt 
on the lake which bears their name, and were allies 
of Algonquin bands on the Ottawa.^ All alike were 
tillers of the soil, living at ease when compared with 
the famished Algonquins of the Lower St. Lawrence. 

By joining these Hurons and Algonquins against 
their Iroquois enemies, Champlain might make him- 

1 The tribes east of the Mississippi, between the latitudes of Lake 
Superior and of the Ohio, were divided, with slight exceptions, into 
two groups or families, distinguished by a radical difference of lan- 
guage. One of these families of tribes is called Algonquin, from the 
name of a small Indian community on the Ottawa. The other is 
called the Huron-Iroquois, from the names of its two principal 
members. 



1609.] MINGLING IN INDIAN POLITICS. 345 

self the indispensable ally and leader of the tribes of 
Canada, and at the same time fight his way to dis- 
covery in regions which otherwise were barred against 
him. From first to last it was the policy of France 
in America to mingle in Indian politics, hold the 
balance of power between adverse tribes, and envelop 
in the network of her power and diplomacy the 
remotest hordes of the wilderness. Of this policy 
the Father of New France may perhaps be held to 
have set a rash and premature example. Yet while 
he was apparently following the dictates of his own 
adventurous spirit, it became evident, a few years 
later, that under his thirst for discovery and spirit of 
knight-errantry lay a consistent and deliberate pur- 
pose. That it had already assumed a definite shape 
is not likely; but his after course makes it plain that, 
in embroiling himself and his colony with the most 
formidable savages on the continent, he was by no 
means acting so recklessly as at first sight would 
appear. 



CHAPTER X. 

1609. 

LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 

Champlain joins a War Party. — Preparation. — Departure, 
— The River Richelieu. — The Spirits consulted. — Dis- 
covery OF Lake Champlain. — Battle with the Iroquois. — 
Pate of Prisoners. — Panic of the Victors. 

It was past the middle of June, and the expected 
warriors from the upper country had not come, — a 
delay which seems to have given Champlain little 
concern, for, without waiting longer, he set out with 
no better allies than a band of Montagnais. But, as 
he moved up the St. Lawrence, he saw, thickly 
clustered in the bordering forest, the lodges of an 
Indian camp, and, landing, found his Huron and 
Algonquin allies. Few of them had ever seen a 
white man, and they surrounded the steel-clad 
strangers in speechless wonder. Champlain asked 
for their chief, and the staring throng moved with 
him towards a lodge where sat, not one chief, but 
two ; for each band had its own. There were feast- 
ing, smoking, and speeches; and, the needful cere- 
mony over, all descended together to Quebec ; for the 
strangers were bent on seeing those wonders of archi- 



1609.] INDIAN ALLIES. 847 

tectiire, the fame of which had pierced the recesses 
of their forests. 

On their arrival, they feasted their eyes and glutted 
their appetites; yelped consternation at the sharp 
explosions of the arquebuse and the roar of the 
cannon; pitched their camps, and bedecked them- 
selves for their war-dance. In the still night, their 
fire glared against the black and jagged cliff, and the 
fierce red light fell on tawny limbs convulsed with 
frenzied gestures and ferocious stampings; on con- 
torted visages, hideous with paint; on brandished 
weapons, stone war-clubs, stone hatchets, and stone- 
pointed lances; while the drum kept up its hollow 
boom, and the air was split with mingled yells. 

The war-feast followed, and then all embarked 
together. Champlain was in a small shallop, carry- 
ing, besides himself, eleven men of Pontgrave's 
party, including his son-in-law Marais and the 
pilot La Routte. They were armed with the arque- 
buse, — a matchlock or firelock somewhat like the 
modern carbine, and from its shortness not ill suited 
for use in the forest. On the twenty-eighth of June ^ 
they spread their sails and held their course against 
the current, while around them the river was alive 
with canoes, and hundreds of naked arms plied the 
paddle with a steady, measured sweep. They crossed 
the Lake of St. Peter, threaded the devious channels 
among its many islands, and reached at last the 

1 Champlain's dates, in this part of his narrative, are exceedingly- 
careless and confused, May and June being mixed indiscriminately. 



348 LAKE CHAMPLAIK [1609. 

mouth of the Riviere des Iroquois, since called the 
Richelieu, or the St. John.i Here, probably on 
the site of the town of Sorel, the leisurely warriors 
encamped for two days, hunted, fished, and took their 
ease, regaling their allies with venison and wild- 
fowl. They quarrelled, too; three fourths of their 
number seceded, took to their canoes in dudgeon, 
and paddled towards their homes, while the rest pur- 
sued their course up the broad and placid stream. 

Walls of verdure stretched on left and right. Now, 
aloft in the lonely air rose the cliffs of Beloeil, and 
now, before them, framed in circling forests, the 
Basin of Chambly spread its tranquil mirror, glitter- 
ing in the sun. The shallop outsailed the canoes. 
Champlain, leaving his allies behind, crossed the 
basin and tried to pursue his course; but, as he 
listened in the stillness, the unwelcome noise of 
rapids reached his ear, and, by glimpses through the 
dark foliage of the Islets of St. John he could see 
the gleam of snowy foam and the flash of hurrying 
waters. Leaving the boat by the shore in charge of 
four men, he went with Marais, La Routte, and five 
others, to explore the wild before him. They pushed 
their way through the damps and shadows of the 
wood, through thickets and tangled vines, over mossy 
rocks and mouldering logs. Still the hoarse sui-ging 
of the rapids followed them; and when, parting the 
screen of foliage, they looked out upon the river, 
they saw it thick set with rocks where, plunging over 
1 Also called the Chambly, the St. Louis, and the Sorel. 



1609.] THROUGH THE WILDERNESS. 349 

ledges, gurgling under drift-logs, darting along clefts, 
and boiling in chasms, the angry waters filled the 
solitude with monotonous ravings.^ 

Champlain retraced his steps. He had learned the 
value of an Indian's word. His allies had promised 
him that his boat could pass unobstructed throughout 
the whole journey. "It afflicted me," he says, "and 
troubled me exceedingly to be obliged to return with- 
out having seen so great a lake, full of fair islands 
and bordered with the fine countries which they had 
described to me." 

When he reached the boat, he found the whole 
savage crew gathered at the spot. He mildly rebuked 
their bad faith, but added, that, though they had 
deceived him, he, as far as might be, would fulfil his 
pledge. To this end, he directed Marais, with the 
boat and the greater part of the men, to return to 
Quebec, while he, with two who offered to follow 
him, should proceed in the Indian canoes. 

The warriors lifted their canoes from the water, 
and bore them on their shoulders half a league through 
the forest to the smoother stream above. Here the 
chiefs made a muster of their forces, counting twenty- 
four canoes and sixty warriors. All embarked again, 
and advanced once more, by marsh, meadow, forest, 
and scattered islands, — then full of game, for it was 
an uninhabited land, the war-path and battle-ground 
of hostile tribes. The warriors observed a certain 

1 In spite of the changes of civilization, the tourist, with Cham- 
plain's journal in his hand, can easily trace each stage of his progress. 



350 LAKE CHAMPLAIK [1609. 

system in their advance. Some were in front as a 
vanguard; others formed the main body; while an 
equal number were in the forests on the flanks and 
rear, hunting for the subsistence of the whole; for, 
though they had a provision of parched maize pounded 
into meal, they kept it for use when, from the vicinity 
of the enemy, hunting should become impossible. 

Late in the day they landed and drew up their 
canoes, ranging them closely, side by side. Some 
stripped sheets of bark, to cover their camp sheds; 
others gathered wood, the forest being full of dead, 
dry trees ; others felled the living trees, for a barri- 
cade. They seem to have had steel axes, obtained 
by barter from the French ; for in less than two hours 
they had made a strong defensive work, in the form 
of a half -circle, open on the river side, where their 
canoes lay on the strand, and large enough to enclose 
all their huts and sheds. ^ Some of their number had 
gone forward as scouts, and, returning, reported no 
signs of an enemy. This was the extent of their 
precaution, for they placed no guard, but all, in full 
security, stretched themselves to sleep, — a vicious 
custom from which the lazy warrior of the forest 
rarely departs. 

They had not forgotten, however, to consult their 

1 Such extempore works of defence are still used among some 
tribes of the remote West. The author has twice seen them, made of 
trees piled together as described by Champlain, probably by war par- 
ties of the Crow or Snake Indians. 

Champlain, usually too concise, is very minute in his description of 
the march and encampment. 



1609.] DIVINATION-. 351 

oracle. The medicine-man pitched his magic lodge 
in the woods, formed of a small stack of poles, planted 
in a circle and brought together at the tops like 
stacked muskets. Over these he placed the filthy 
deer-skins which served him for a robe, and, creep- 
ing in at a narrow opening, hid himself from view. 
Crouched in a ball upon the earth, he invoked the 
spirits in mumbling inarticulate tones; while his 
naked auditory, squatted on the ground like apes, 
listened in wonder and awe. Suddenly, the lodge 
moved, rocking with violence to and fro, — by the 
power of the spirits, as the Indians thought, while 
Champlain could plainly see the tawny fist of the 
medicine-man shaking the poles. They begged him 
to keep a watchful eye on the peak of the lodge, whence 
fire and smoke would presently issue ; but with the 
best efforts of his vision, he discovered none. Mean- 
while the medicine-man was seized with such convul- 
sions, that, when his divination was over, his naked 
body streamed with perspiration. In loud, clear tones, 
and in an unknown tongue, he invoked the spirit, 
who was understood to be present in the form of a 
stone, and whose feeble and squeaking accents were 
heard at intervals, like the wail of a young puppy. ^ 

1 This mode of divination was universal among the Algonquin 
tribes, and is not extinct to this day among their roving Northern 
bands. Le Jeune, Lafitau, and other early Jesuit writers, describe it 
with great minuteness. The former {Relation, 1634) speaks of an 
audacious conjurer, who, having invoked the Manitou, or spirit, killed 
him with a hatchet. To all appearance he was a stone, which, how- 
ever, when struck with the hatchet, proved to be full of flesh and 
blood. A kindred superstition prevails among the Crow Indians. 



352 LAKE CHAMPLAIN. [1609. 

In tliis manner they consulted the spirit — as 
Champlain thinks, the Devil — at all their camps. 
His replies, for the most part, seem to have given 
them great content; yet they took other measures, of 
which the military advantages were less questionable. 
The principal chief gathered bundles of sticks, and, 
without wasting his breath, stuck them in the earth 
in a certain order, calling each by the name of some 
warrior, a few taller than the rest representing the 
subordinate chiefs. Thus was indicated the position 
which each was to hold in the expected battle. All 
gathered round and attentively studied the sticks, 
ranged like a child's wooden soldiers, or the pieces 
on a chessboard; then, with no further instruction, 
they formed their ranks, broke them, and reformed 
them again and again with excellent alacrity and 
skill. 

Again the canoes advanced, the river widening as 
they went. Great islands appeared, leagues in 
extent, — Isle a la Motte, Long Island, Grande Isle ; 
channels where ships might float and broad reaches 
of water stretched between them, and Champlain 
entered the lake which preserves his name to posterity. 
Cumberland Head was passed, and from the opening 
of the great channel between Grande Isle and the 
main he could look forth on the wilderness sea. 
Edged with woods, the tranquil flood spread south- 
ward beyond the sight. Far on the left rose the 
forest ridges of the Green Mountains, and on the 
right the Adirondacks, — haunts in these later years 



1609.] m THE IROQUOIS COUNTRY. 353 

of amateur sportsmen from counting-rooms or college 
halls. Then the Iroquois made them their hunting- 
ground; and beyond, in the valleys of the Mohawk, 
the Onondaga, and the Genesee, stretched the long 
line of their five cantons and palisaded towns. 

At night they encamped again. The scene is a 
familiar one to many a tourist ; and perhaps, standing 
at sunset on the peaceful strand, Champlain saw what 
a roving student of this generation has seen on those 
same shores, at that same hour, — the glow of the 
vanished sun behind the western mountains, darkly 
piled in mist and shadow along the sky; near at 
hand, the dead pine, mighty in decay, stretching its 
ragged arms athwart the burning heaven, the crow 
perched on its top like an image carved in jet; and 
aloft, the nighthawk, circling in his flight, and, with 
a strange whirring sound, diving through the air 
each moment for the insects he makes his prey. 

The progress of the party was becoming dangerous. 
They changed their mode of advance and moved 
only in the night. All day they lay close in the 
depth of the forest, sleeping, lounging, smoking 
tobacco of their own raising, and beguiling the hours, 
no doubt, with the shallow banter and obscene jest- 
ing with which knots of Indians are wont to amuse 
their leisure. At twilight they embarked again, pad- 
dling their cautious way till the eastern sky began to 
redden. Their goal was the rocky promontory where 
Fort Ticonderoga was long afterward built. Thence, 
they would pass the outlet of Lake George, and 

23 



354 LAKE CHAMPLAIK [1609. 

launch their canoes again on that Como of the wil- 
derness, whose waters, limpid as a fountain-head, 
stretched far southward between their flanking moun- 
tains. Landing at the future site of Fort William 
Henry, they would cany their canoes through the 
forest to the river Hudson, and, descending it, attack 
perhaps some outlying town of the Mohawks. In 
the next century this chain of lakes and rivers became 
the grand highway of savage and civilized Avar, linked 
to memories of momentous conflicts. 

The allies were spared so long a progress. On 
the morning of the twenty-ninth of July, after pad- 
dling all night, they hid as usual in the forest on the 
western shore, apparently between Crown Point and 
Ticonderoga. The warriors stretched themselves to 
their slumbers, and Champlain, after walking till 
nine or ten o'clock through the surrounding woods, 
returned to take his repose on a pile of spruce-boughs. 
Sleeping, he dreamed a dream, wherein he beheld the 
Iroquois drowning in the lake ; and, trying to rescue 
them, he was told by his Algonquin friends that they 
were good for nothing, and had better be left to their 
fate. For some time past he had been beset every 
morning by his superstitious allies, eager to learn 
about his dreams ; and, to this moment, his unbroken 
slumbers had failed to furnish the desired prognostics. 
The announcement of this auspicious vision filled the 
crowd with joy, and at nightfall they embarked, 
flushed with anticipated victories.^ 

1 The power of dreams among Indians in their primitive condition 
can scarcely be over-estimated. Among the ancient Hurons and 



1609.] ENCOUNTER WITH THE IROQUOIS. 355 

It was ten o'clock in the evening, when, near 
a projecting point of land, which was probably 
Ticonderoga, they descried dark objects in motion on 
the lake before them. These were a flotilla of 
Iroquois canoes, heavier and slower than theirs, for 
they were made of oak bark.^ Each party saw the 
other, and the mingled war-cries pealed over the 
darkened water. The Iroquois, who were near 
the shore, having no stomach for an aquatic battle, 
landed, and, making night hideous with their clamors, 
began to barricade themselves. Champlain could see 
them in the woods, laboring like beavers, hacking 
down trees with iron axes taken from the Canadian 
tribes in war, and with stone hatchets of their own 
making. The allies remained on the lake, a bowshot 
from the hostile barricade, their canoes made fast 
together by poles lashed across. All night they 

cognate tribes, they were the universal authority and oracle; but 
while a dreamer of reputation had unlimited power, the dream of a 
vaurien was held in no account. There were professed interpreters of 
dreams. Brebeuf, Rel. des Hurons, 117. A man, dreaming that he 
had killed his wife, made it an excuse for killing her in fact. All 
these tribes, including the Iroquois, had a stated game called Onon- 
hara, or the dreaming game, in which dreams were made the pretext 
for the wildest extravagances. See Lafitau, Charlevoix, Sagard, 
Brebeuf, etc. 

1 Champlain (1613), 232. Probably a mistake; the Iroquois 
canoes were usually of elm bark. The paper-birch was used wherever 
it could be had, being incomparably the best material. All the tribes, 
from the mouth of the Saco northward and eastward, and along the 
entire northern portion of the valley of the St. Lawrence and the 
Great Lakes, used the birch. The best substitutes were elm and 
spruce. The birch bark, from its laminated texture, could be peeled 
at any time ; the others only when the sap was in motion. 



856 LAKE CHAMPLAIK [1609. 

danced with as much vigor as the frailty of their 
vessels would permit, their throats making amends 
for the enforced restraint of their limbs. It was 
agreed on both sides that the fight should be deferred 
till daybreak; but meanwhile a commerce of abuse, 
sarcasm, menace, and boasting gave unceasing exer- 
cise to the lungs and fancy of the combatants, — 
"much," says Champlain, "like the besiegers and 
besieged in a beleaguered town." 

As day approached, he and his two followers put 
on the light armor of the time. Champlain wore the 
doublet and long hose then in vogue. Over the 
doublet he buckled on a breastplate, and probably a 
back-piece, while his thighs were protected by cuisses 
of steel, and his head by a plumed casque. Across 
his shoulder hung the strap of his bandoleer, or 
ammunition-box; at his side was his sword, and in 
his hand his arquebuse.^ Such was the equipment 
of this ancient Indian-fighter, whose exploits date 
eleven years before the landing of the Puritans at 
Plymouth, and sixty-six years before King Philip's 
War. 

Each of the three Frenchmen was in a separate 
canoe, and, as it grew light, they kept themselves 
hidden, either by lying at the bottom, or covering 
themselves with an Indian robe. The canoes ap- 
proached the shore, and all landed without opposi- 

1 Champlain, in his rude drawing of the battle (ed. 1613), portrays 
himself and his equipment with sufficient distinctness. Compare 
plates of the weapons and armor of the period in Meyrick, Ancient 
Armor, and Susane, Histoire de I'Ancienne Infanterie Frangaise. 



1609.] ENCOUNTER WITH THE IROQUOIS. 357 

tion at some distance from the Iroquois, whom they 
presently could see filing out of their barricade, — 
tall, strong men, some two hundred in number, the 
boldest and fiercest warriors of North America. They 
advanced through the forest with a steadiness which 
excited the admiration of Champlain. Among them 
could be seen three chiefs, made conspicuous by their 
tall plumes. Some bore shields of wood and hide, 
and some were covered with a kind of armor made of 
tough twigs interlaced with a vegetable fibre sup- 
posed by Champlain to be cotton.^ 

The allies, growing anxious, called with loud cries 
for their champion, and opened their ranks that he 
might pass to the front. He did so, and, advancing 
before his red companions in arms, stood revealed to 
the gaze of the Iroquois, who, beholding the warlike 
apparition in their path, stared in mute amazement. 
"I looked at them," says Champlain, "and they 
looked at me. When I saw them getting ready to 
shoot their arrows at us, I levelled my arquebuse, 
which I had loaded with four balls, and aimed straight 
at one of the three chiefs. The shot brought down 
two, and wounded another. On this, our Indians set 
up such a yelling that one could not have heard a 

1 According to Lafitau, both bucklers and breastplates were in 
frequent use among the Iroquois. The former were very large and 
made of cedar wood covered with interwoven thongs of hide. The 
kindred nation of the Hurons, says Sagard {Voyage des Hurons, 126- 
206), carried large shields, and wore greaves for the legs and cuirasses 
made of twigs interwoven with cords. His account corresponds with 
that of Champlain, who gives a wood-cut of a warrior thus armed. 



358 LAKE CHAMPLAIK [1609. 

thunder-clap, and all the while the arrows flew thick 
on both sides. The Iroquois were greatly astonished 
and frightened to see two of their men killed so 
quickly, in spite of their arrow-proof armor. As I 
was reloading, one of my companions fired a shot 
from the woods, which so increased their astonish- 
ment that, seeing their chiefs dead, they abandoned 
the field and fled into the depth of the forest." The 
allies dashed after them. Some of the Iroquois were 
killed, and more were taken. Camp, canoes, provi- 
sions, all were abandoned, and many weapons flung 
down in the panic flight. The victory was complete. 
At night, the victors led out one of the prisoners, 
told him that he was to die by fire, and ordered him 
to sing his death-song if he dared. Then they began 
the torture, and presently scalped their victim alive, ^ 
when Champlain, sickening at the sight, begged 
leave to shoot him. They refused, and he turned 
away in anger and disgust; on which they called him 
back and told him to do as he pleased. He turned 
again, and a shot from his arquebuse put the wretch 
out of misery. 

1 It has been erroneously asserted that the practice of scalping did 
not prevail among the Indians before the advent of Europeans. In 
1535, Cartier saw five scalps at Quebec, dried and stretched on hoops. 
In 1564, Laudonniere saw them among the Indians of Florida. The 
Algonquins of New England and Nova Scotia were accustomed to cut 
off and carry away the head, which they afterwards scalped. Those 
of Canada, it seems, sometimes scalped dead bodies on the field. The 
Algonquin practice of carrying off heads as trophies is mentioned by 
Lalemant, Roger Williams, Lescarbot, and Champlain. Compare 
IJistorigal Magazine, First Series, V. 253, 



1609.] SAVAGE MEMORIALS. 359 

The scene filled him with horror; but a few months 
later, on the Place de la Greve at Paris, he might 
have witnessed tortures equally revolting and equally 
vindictive, inflicted on the regicide Ravaillac by the 
sentence of grave and learned judges. 

The allies made a prompt retreat from the scene of 
their triumph. Three or four days brought them to 
the mouth of the Richelieu. Here they separated; 
the Hurons and Algonquins made for the Ottawa, 
their homeward route, each with a share of prisoners 
for future torments. At parting, they invited Cham- 
plain to visit their towns and aid them again in their 
wars, an invitation which this paladin of the woods 
failed not to accept. 

The companions now remaining to him were the 
Montagnais. In their camp on the Richelieu, one of 
them dreamed that a war party of Iroquois was close 
upon them ; on which, in a torrent of rain, they left 
their huts, paddled in dismay to the islands above 
the Lake of St. Peter, and hid themselves all night 
in the rushes. In the morning they took heart, 
emerged from their hiding-places, descended to 
Quebec, and went thence to Tadoussac, whither 
Champlain accompanied them. Here the squaws, 
stark naked, swam out to the canoes to receive 
the heads of the dead Iroquois, and, hanging them 
from their necks, danced in triumph along the 
shore. One of the heads and a pair of arms 
were then bestowed on Champlain, — touching 
memorials of gratitude, which, however, he was 



860 LAKE CHAMPLAIN. [1609. 

by no means to keep for himself, but to present to 
the King. 

Thus did New France rush into collision with the 
redoubted warriors of the Five Nations. Here was 
the beginning, and in some measure doubtless the 
cause, of a long suite of murderous conflicts, bear- 
ing havoc and flame to generations yet unborn. 
Champlain had invaded the tiger's den ; and now, in 
smothered fury, the patient savage would lie biding 
his day of blood. 



CHAPTER XI. 

1610-1612. 

WAR. — TRADE. — DISCOVERY. 

Champlain at Fontainebleau. — Champlain on the St. Law- 
rence. — Alarm. — Battle. — War Parties. — Icebergs. — 
Adventurers. — Chatviplain at Montreal. — Return to 
France. — The Comte de Soissons. — The Prince de Cond^. 

Champlain and Pontgrave returned to France, 
while Pierre Chauvin of Dieppe held Quebec in their 
absence. The King was at Fontainebleau, — it was 
a few months before his assassination, — and here 
Champlain recounted his adventures, to the great 
satisfaction of the lively monarch. He gave him 
also, not the head of the dead Iroquois, but a belt 
wrought in embroidery of dyed quills of the Canada 
porcupine, together with two small birds of scarlet 
plumage, and the skull of a gar-fish. 

De Monts was at court, striving for a renewal of 
his monopoly. His efforts failed; on which, with 
great spirit but little discretion, he resolved to push 
his enterprise without it. Early in the spring of 
1610, the ship was ready, and Champlain and 
Pontgravd were on board, when a violent illness 
seized the former, reducing him to the most miserable 



362 WAR. — TRADE. ^ DISCOVERY. [1610. 

of all conflicts, tlie battle of the eager spirit against 
the treacherous and failing flesh. Having partially 
recovered, he put to sea, giddy and weak, in wretched 
plight for the hard career of toil and battle which the 
New World offered him. The voyage was prosperous, 
no other mishap occurring than that of an ardent 
youth of St. Malo, who drank the health of Pontgravd 
with such persistent enthusiasm that he fell over- 
board and was drowned. 

There were ships at Tadoussac, fast loading with 
furs; and boats, too, higher up the river, anticipat- 
ing the trade, and draining De Monts's resources in 
advance. Champlain, who was left free to fight and 
explore wherever he should see fit, had provided, to 
use his own phrase, "two strings to his bow." On 
the one hand, the Montagnais had promised to guide 
him northward to Hudson's Bay; on the other, the 
Hurons were to show him the Great Lakes, with the 
mines of copper on their shores ; and to each the same 
reward was promised, — to join them against the 
common foe, the Iroquois. The rendezvous was at 
the mouth of the river Richelieu. Thither the 
Hurons were to descend in force, together with 
Algonquins of the Ottawa; and thither Champlain 
now repaired, while around his boat swarmed a mul- 
titude of Montagnais canoes, filled with warriors 
whose lank hair streamed loose in the wind. 

There is an island in the St. Lawrence near the 
mouth of the Richelieu. On the nineteenth of June 
it was swarming with busy and clamorous savages, — 



1610.] ALARM. 363 

Cliamplain's Montagnais allies, cutting down the 
trees and clearing the ground for a dance and a feast; 
for they were hourly expecting the Algonquin war- 
riors, and were eager to welcome them with befitting 
honors. But suddenly, far out on the river, they 
saw an advancing canoe. Now on this side, now on 
that, the flashing paddles urged it forward as if death 
were on its track ; and as it drew near, the Indians 
on board cried out that the Algonquins were in the 
forest, a league distant, engaged with a hundred 
warriors of the Iroquois, who, outnumbered, were 
fighting savagely within a barricade of trees. 

The air was split with shrill outcries. The 
Montagnais snatched their weapons, — shields, bows, 
arrows, war-clubs, sword-blades made fast to poles, 
— and ran headlong to their canoes, impeding each 
other in their haste, screeching to Champlain to 
follow, and invoking with no less vehemence the aid 
of certain fur-traders, just arrived in four boats from 
below. These, as it was not their cue to fight, lent 
them a deaf ear; on which, in disgust and scorn, 
they paddled off, calling to the recusants that they 
were women, fit for nothing but to make war on 
beaver-skins. ' 

Champlain and four of his men were in the canoes, 
riiey shot across the intervening water, and, as their 
prows grated on the pebbles, each warrior flung down 
his paddle, snatched his weapons, and ran into the 
woods. The five Frenchmen followed, striving vainly 
to keep pace with the naked, light-limbed rabble, 



364 WAR. — TRADE. — DISCOVERY. [1610. 

bounding like shadows through the forest. They 
quickly disappeared. Even their shrill cries grew 
faint, till Champlain and his men, discomforted and 
vexed, found themselves deserted in the midst of a 
swamp. The day was sultry, the forest air heavy, 
close, and filled with hosts of mosquitoes, " so thick, " 
says the chief sufferer, " that we could scarcely draw 
breath, and it was wonderful how cruelly they perse- 
cuted us." 1 Through black mud, spongy moss, water 
knee-deep, over fallen trees, among slimy logs and 
entangling roots, tripped by vines, lashed by recoiling 
boughs, panting under their steel head-pieces and 
heavy corselets, the Frenchmen struggled on, bewil- 
vlered and indignant. At length they descried two 
Indians running in the distance, and shouted to them 
in desperation, that, if they wanted their aid, they 
must guide them to the enemy. 

At length they could hear the yells of the com- 
batants; there was light in the forest before them, 
and they issued into a partial clearing made by the 
Iroquois axemen near the river. Champlain saw 
their barricade. Trees were piled into a circular 
breastwork, trunks, boughs, and matted foliage 
forming a strong defence, within which the Iroquois 
stood savagely at bay. Around them flocked the 
allies, half hidden in the edges of the forest, like 
hounds around a wild boar, eager, clamorous, yet 

1 " . . . quantity de mousquites, qui estoient si espoisses qu'elles 
ne nous permettoient point presque de reprendre nostre halaine, tant 
elles nous pers^cutoient, et si cruellement que c'estoit chose estrange. 
Champlain (1613), 250. 



1610.] BATTLE. — VICTORY. 365 

afraid to rush in. Tliey had attacked, and had met 
a bloody rebuff. All their hope was now in the 
French; and when they saw them, a yell arose from 
hundreds of throats that outdid the wilderness voices 
whence its tones were borrowed, — the whoop of the 
horned owl, the scream of the cougar, the howl of 
starved wolves on a winter night. A fierce response 
pealed from the desperate band within ; and, amid a 
storm of arrows from both sides, the Frenchmen 
threw themselves into the fray, firing at random 
through the fence of trunks, boughs, and drooping 
leaves, with which the Iroquois had encircled them- 
selves. Champlain felt a stone-headed arrow splitting 
his ear and tearing through the muscles of his neck. 
He drew it out, and, the moment after, did a similar 
office for one of his men. But the Iroquois had not 
recovered from their first terror at the arquebuse; 
and when the mysterious and terrible assailants, clad 
in steel and armed with thunder-bolts, ran up to the 
barricade, thrust their pieces through the openings, 
and shot death among the crowd within, they could 
not control their fright, but with every report threw 
themselves flat on the ground. Animated with 
unwonted valor, the allies, covered by their large 
shields, began to drag out the felled trees of the 
barricade, while others, under Champlain 's direction, 
gathered at the edge of the forest, preparing to close 
the affair with a final rush. New actors soon appeared 
on the scene. These were a boat's crew of the fur- 
traders under a young man of St. Malo, one Des 



366 WAR. — TRADE. — DISCOVERY. [1610. 

Prairies, who, when he heard the firing, could not 
resist the impulse to join the fight. On seeing them, 
Champlain checked the assault, in order, as he says, 
that the new-comers might have their share in the 
sport. The traders opened fire, with great zest and 
no less execution ; while the Iroquois, now wild with 
terror, leaped and writhed to dodge the shot which 
tore through their frail armor of twigs. Champlain 
gave the signal; the crowd ran to the barricade, 
dragged down the boughs or clambered over them, 
and bore themselves, in his own words, " so well and 
manfully," that, though scratched and torn by the 
sharp points, they quickly forced an entrance. The 
French ceased their fire, and, followed by a smaller 
body of Indians, scaled the barricade on the farther 
side. Now, amid bowlings, shouts, and screeches, 
the work was finished. Some of the Iroquois were 
cut down as they stood, hewing with their war-clubs, 
and foaming like slaughtered tigers; some climbed 
the barrier and were killed by the furious crowd 
without; some were drowned in the river; while 
fifteen, the only survivors, were made prisoners. 
"By the grace of God," writes Champlain, "behold 
the battle won! " Drunk with ferocious ecstasy, the 
conquerors scalped the dead and gathered fagots for 
the living; while some of the fur-traders, too late to 
bear part in the fight, robbed the carcasses of their 
blood-bedrenched robes of beaver-skin amid the 
derision of the surrounding Indians.^ 

1 Champlain (1613), 254. This narrative, like most others, is 
much abridged in the editio»^ of 1632. 



1610.] A SAVAGE CONCOURSE. 367 

That night, the torture fires blazed along the shore. 
Champlain saved one prisoner from their clutches, 
but nothing could save the rest. One body was 
quartered and eaten. ^ "As for the rest of the 
prisoners," says Champlain, "they were kept to be 
put to death by the women and girls, who in this 
respect are no less inhuman than the men, and, 
indeed, much more so; for by their subtlety they 
invent more cruel tortures, and take pleasure in it." 

On the next day, a large band of Hurons appeared 
at the rendezvous, greatly vexed that they had come 
too late. The shores were thickly studded with 
Indian huts, and the woods were full of them. Here 
were warriors of three designations, including many 
subordinate tribes, and representing three grades of 
savage society, — the Hurons, the Algonquins of the 
Ottawa, and the Montagnais ; afterwards styled by a 
Franciscan friar, than whom few men better knew 
them, the nobles, the burghers, and the peasantry 
and paupers of the forest. ^ Many of them, from the 
remote interior, had never before seen a white man; 

1 Traces of cannibalism may be found among most of the North 
American tribes, though they are rarely very conspicuous. Some- 
times the practice arose, as in the present instance, from revenge or 
ferocity ; sometimes it bore a religious character, as with the Miamis, 
among whom there existed a secret religious fraternity of man-eaters ; 
sometimes the heart of a brave enemy was devoured in the idea that 
it made the eater brave. This last practice was common. The fero- 
cious threat, used in speaking of an enemy, " I will eat his heart," is 
by no means a mere figure of speech. The roving hunter-tribes, in 
their winter wanderings, were not infrequently impelled to cannibalism 
by famine. 

*^ Sagard, Voyage des Hurons, 184. 



368 WAR. - TRADE. — DISCOVERY. [1610. 

and, wrapped like statues in tbeir robes, they stood 
gazing on the French with a fixed stare of wild and 
wondering eyes. 

Judged by the standard of Indian war, a heayy 
blow had been struck on the common enemy. Here 
were hundreds of assembled warriors; yet none 
thought of following up their success. Elated with 
unexpected fortune, they danced and sang; then 
loaded their canoes, hung their scalps on poles, broke 
up their camps, and set out triumphant for their 
homes. Champlain had fought their battles, and now 
might claim, on their part, guidance and escort to the 
distant interior. Why he did not do so is scarcely 
apparent. There were cares, it seems, connected 
with the very life of his puny colony, which demanded 
his return to France. Nor were his anxieties lessened 
by the arrival of a ship from his native town of 
Brouage, with tidings of the King's assassination. 
Here was a death-blow to all that had remained of 
De Monts's credit at court; while that unfortunate 
nobleman, like his old associate, Poutrincourt, was 
moving with swift strides toward financial ruin. 
With the revocation of his monopoly, fur-traders had 
swarmed to the St. Lawrence. Tadoussac was full 
of them, and for that year the trade was spoiled. 
Far from aiding to support a burdensome enterprise 
of colonization, it was in itself an occasion of heavy 



Champlain bade farewell to his garden at Quebec, 
where maize, wheat, rye, and barley, with vegetables 



1611.] RIVAL TRADERS. 369 

of all kinds, and a small vineyard of native grapes, 
— for he was a zealous horticulturist, ^ — held forth a 
promise which he was not to see fulfilled. He left 
one Du Pare in command, with sixteen men, and, 
sailing on the eighth of August, arrived at Honfleur. 
with no worse accident than that of running over a 
sleeping whale near the Grand Bank. 

With the opening spring he was afloat again. 
Perils awaited him worse than those of Iroquois 
tomahawks; for, approaching Newfoundland, the 
ship was entangled for days among drifting fields and 
bergs of ice. Escaping at length, she arrived at 
Tadoussac on the thirteenth of May, 1611. She had 
anticipated the spring. Forests and mountains, far 
and near, all were white with snow. A principal 
object with Champlain was to establish such relations 
with the great Indian communities of the interior as 
to secure to De Monts and his associates the advantage 
of trade with them ; and to this end he now repaired 
to Montreal, a position in the gateway, as it were, of 
their yearly descents of trade or war. On arriving, 
he began to survey the ground for the site of a 
permanent post. 

A few days convinced him, that, under the present 
system, all his efforts would be vain. Wild reports 
of the wonders of New France had gone abroad, and 
a crowd of hungry adventurers had hastened to the 
land of promise, eager to grow rich, they scarcely 

1 During the next year, he planted roses around Quebec. Cham- 
plam( 1613), 313. 

24 



870 WAR. — TRADE. — DISCOVERY. [1611. 

knew how, and soon to return disgusted. A fleet of 
boats and small vessels followed in Champlain's wake. 
Within a few days, thirteen of them arrived at Mon- 
treal, and more soon appeared. He was to break the 
ground; others would reap the harvest. Travel, dis- 
covery, and battle, all must inure to the profit, not 
of the colony, but of a crew of greedy traders. 

Champlain, however, chose the site and cleared 
the ground for his intended post. It was immedi- 
ately above a small stream, now running under arches 
of masonry, and entering the St. Lawrence at Point 
Callieres, within the modern city. He called it 
Place Royale ; ^ and here, on the margin of the river, 
he built a wall of bricks made on the spot, in order 
to measure the destructive effects of the " ice-shove " 
in the spring. 

Now, down the surges of St. Louis, where the 
mighty floods of the St. Lawrence, contracted to a 
narrow throat, roll in fury among their sunken rocks, 
— here, through foam and spray and the roar of the 
angry torrent, a fleet of birch canoes came dancing 
like dry leaves on the froth of some riotous brook. 
They bore a band of Hurons first at the rendezvous. 
As they drew near the landing, all the fur-traders' 
boats blazed out a clattering fusillade, which was 
designed to bid them welcome, but in fact terrified 
many of them to such a degree that they scarcely dared 
to come ashore. Nor were they reassured by the 

1 The mountain being Mont Royal (Montreal). The Hospital of 
the Gray Nuns was built on a portion of Champlain's Place Royale. 



1611.] DESCENT OF THE RAPIDS. 371 

bearing of the disorderly crowd, who, in jealous 
competition for their beaver-skins, left them not a 
moment's peace, and outraged all their notions of 
decorum. More soon appeared, till hundreds of 
warriors were encamped along the shore, all restless, 
suspicious, and alarmed. Late one night they awak- 
ened Champlain. On going with them to their 
camp, he found chiefs and warriors in solemn con- 
clave around the glimmering firelight. Though they 
were fearful of the rest, their trust in him was bound- 
less. " Come to our country, buy our beaver, build 
a fort, teach us the true faith, do what you will, but 
do not bring this crowd with you." The idea had 
seized them that these lawless bands of rival traders, 
all well armed, meant to plunder and kill them. 
Champlain assured them of safety, and the whole 
night was consumed in friendly colloquy. Soon 
afterward, however, the camp broke up, and the 
uneasy warriors removed to the borders of the Lake 
of St. Louis, placing the rapids betwixt themselves 
and the objects of their alarm. Here Champlain 
visited them, and hence these intrepid canoe-men, 
kneeling in their birchen egg-shells, carried him 
homeward down the rapids, somewhat, as he admits, 
to the discomposure of his nerves.^ 

1 The first white man to descend the rapids of St. Louis was a youth 
named Louis, who, on the 10th of June, 1611, went with two Indians to 
shoot herons on an island, and was drowned on the way down ; the 
second was a young man who in the summer before had gone with the 
Hurons to their country, and who returned with them on the 13th of 
June ; the third was Champlain himself. 



372 WAR. — TRADE. — DISCOVERY. [1612. 

The great gathering dispersed: the traders de- 
scended to Tadoussac, and Champlain to Quebec; 
while the Indians went, some to their homes, some 
to fight the Iroquois. A few months later, Champlain 
was in close conference with De Monts at Pons, a 
place near Rochelle, of which the latter was governor. 
The last two years had made it apparent, that, to 
keep the colony alive and maintain a basis for those 
discoveries on which his heart was bent, was impos- 
sible without a change of system. De Monts, 
engrossed with the cares of his government, placed 
all in the hands of his associate; and Champlain, 
fully empowered to act as he should judge expedient, 
set out for Paris. On the way. Fortune, at one 
stroke, wellnigh crushed him and New France 
together; for his horse fell on him, and he narrowly 
escaped with life. When he was partially recovered, 
he resumed his journey, pondering on means of rescue 
for the fading colony. A powerful protector must be 
had, — a great name to shield the enterprise from 
assaults and intrigues of jealous rival interests. On 
reaching Paris he addressed himself to a prince of 
the blood, Charles de Bourbon, Comte de Soissons; 
described New France, its resources, and its bound- 
less extent; urged the need of unfolding a mys- 
tery pregnant perhaps with results of the deepest 
moment; laid before him maps and memoirs, and 
begged him to become the guardian of this new 
world. The royal consent being obtained, the 
Comte de Soissons became Lieutenant-General for 



1612.] CONDE. 873 

the Kin^ in New France, with vice-regal powers. 
These, in turn, he conferred upon Champlain, mak- 
ing him his lieutenant, with full control over the 
trade in furs at and above Quebec, and with power 
to associate with himself such persons as he saw 
fit, to aid in the exploration and settlement of the 
country.^ 

Scarcely was the commission drawn when the 
Comte de Soissons, attacked with fever, died, — to 
the joy of the Breton and Norman traders, whose 
jubilation, however, found a speedy end. Henri de 
Bourbon, Prince de Cond^, first prince of the blood, 
assumed the vacant protectorship. He was grandson 
of the gay and gallant Conde of the civil wars, was 
father of the great Conde, the youthful victor of 
Rocroy, and was husband of Charlotte de Montmo- 
rency, whose blond beauties had fired the inflammable 
heart of Henry the Fourth. To the unspeakable 
wrath of that keen lover, the prudent Condd fled 
with his bride, first to Brussels, and then to Italy; 
nor did he return to France till the regicide's knife 
had put his jealous fears to rest.^ After his return, 
he began to intrigue against the court. He was a 
man of common abilities, greedy of money and power, 
and scarcely seeking even the decency of a pretext 

1 Commission de Monseigneur le Comte de Soissons donnee au Sieur 
de Champlein, 15 Oct., 1612. See Champlaia (1632), 231, and Memoires 
des Commissaires, II. 451. 

2 The anecdote, as told by the Princess herself to her wandering 
court during the romantic campaigning of the Fronde, will be found 
in the curious Memoires de Lenet. 



874 WAR. ~ TRADE. —DISCOYERY. [1612, 

to cover his mean ambition.^ His chief honor — an 
honor somewhat equivocal — is, as Voltaire observes, 
to have been father of the great Conde. Busy with 
his intrigues, he cared little for colonies and dis- 
coveries; and his rank and power were his sole 
qualifications for his new post. 

In Champlain alone was the life of New France. 
By instinct and temperament he was more impelled 
to the adventurous toils of exploration than to the 
duller task of building colonies. The profits of trade 
had value in his eyes only as means to these ends, 
and settlements were important chiefly as a base of 
discovery. Two great objects eclipsed all others, — 
to find a route to the Indies, and to bring the heathen 
tribes into the embraces of the Church, since, while 
he cared little for their bodies, his solicitude for 
their souls knew no bounds. 

It was no part of his plan to establish an odious 
monopoly. He sought rather to enlist the rival 
traders in his cause; and he now, in concurrence 
with De Monts, invited them to become sharers in 
the traffic, under certain regulations, and on condi- 
tion of aiding in the establishment and support of the 
colony. The merchants of St. Malo and Rouen 
accepted the terms, and became members of the new 
company; but the intractable heretics of Rochelle, 
refractory in commerce as in religion, kept aloof, and 
preferred the chances of an illicit trade. The pros- 

1 Memoires de Madame de Motteville, passim ; Sismondi, Histoiredes 
Fran^ais, XXIV., XXV., passim. 



1612.] OONDI^. 375 

pects of New France were far from flattering; for 
little could be hoped from this unwilling league of 
selfish traders, each jealous of the rest. They gave 
the Prince of Cond^ large gratuities to secure his 
countenance and support. The hungry viceroy took 
them, and with these emoluments his interest in the 
colony ended. 



CHAPTER Xn. 

1612, 1613. 

THE IMPOSTOR VIGNAU. 

Illusions. — A Path to the North Sea. — The Ottawa. — Forest 
Travellers. — Indian Feast. — The Impostor exposed. — Re- 
turn TO Montreal. 

The arrangements just indicated were a work of 
time. In the summer of 1612, Champlain was forced 
to forego his yearly voyage to New France; nor, 
even in the following spring, were his labors finished 
and the rival interests brought to harmony. Mean- 
while, incidents occurred destined to have no small 
influence on his movements. Three years before, 
after his second fight with the Iroquois, a young man 
of his company had boldly volunteered to join the 
Indians on their homeward journey, and winter 
among them. Champlain gladly assented, and in the 
following summer the adventurer returned. Another 
young man, one Nicolas de Vignau, next offered 
himself; and he also, embarking in the Algonquin 
canoes, passed up the Ottawa, and was seen no more 
for a twelvemonth. In 1612 he reappeared in Paris, 
bringing a tale of wonders ; for, says Champlain, " he 
was the most impudent liar that has been seen for 



1613.] ILLUSIONS. 377 

many a day." He averred that at the sources of the 
Ottawa he had found a great lake; that he had 
crossed it, and discovered a river flowing northward ; 
that he had descended this river, and reached the 
shores of the sea ; that here he had seen the wreck of 
an English ship, whose crew, escaping to land, had 
been killed by the Indians; and that this sea was 
distant from Montreal only seventeen days by canoe. 
The clearness, consistency, and apparent simplicity 
of his story deceived Champlain, who had heard of a 
voyage of the English to the northern seas, coupled 
with rumors of wreck and disaster, ^ and was thus 
confirmed in his belief of Vignau's honesty. The 
Mar^chal de Brissac, the President Jeannin, and 
other persons of eminence about the court, greatly 
interested by these dexterous fabrications, urged 
Champlain to follow up without delay a discovery 
which promised results so important; while he, with 
the Pacific, Japan, China, the Spice Islands, and 
India stretching in flattering vista before his fancy, 
entered with eagerness on the chase of this illusion. 
Early in the spring of 1613 the unwearied voyager 
crossed the Atlantic, and sailed up the St. Lawrence. 
On Monday, the twenty-seventh of May, he left the 
island of St. Helen, opposite Montreal, with four 
Frenchmen, one of whom was Nicolas de Vignau, 
and one Indian, in two small canoes. They passed 

1 Evidently the voyage of Henry Hudson in 1610-12, when that 
navigator, after discovering Hudson's Strait, lost his life through a 
mutiny. Compare Jeremie, Relation, in Recueil de Voyages au Nord, 
VL 



878 THE IMPOSTOR TIGNAU. [1613. 

the swift current at St. Ann's, crossed tlie Lake of 
Two Mountains, and advanced up the Ottawa till 
the rapids of Carillon and the Long Saut checked 
their course. So dense and tangled was the forest, 
that they were forced to remain in the bed of the 
river, trailing their canoes along the bank with cords, 
or pushing them by main force up the current. 
Champlain's foot slipped; he fell in the rapids, two 
boulders, against which he braced himseK, saving 
him from being swept down, while the cord of the 
canoe, twisted round his hand, nearly severed it. At 
length they reached smoother water, and presently 
met fifteen canoes of friendly Indians. Champlain 
gave them the most awkward of his Frenchmen and 
took one of their number in return, — an exchange 
greatly to his profit. 

All day they plied their paddles, and when night 
came they made their camp-fire in the forest. He 
who now, when two centuries and a half are passed, 
would see the evening bivouac of Champlain, has 
but to encamp, with Indian guides, on the upper 
waters of this same Ottawa, or on the borders of 
some lonely river of New Brunswick or of Maine. 

Day dawned. The east glowed with tranquil fire, 
that pierced with eyes of flame the fir-trees whose 
jagged tops stood drawn in black against the burning 
heaven. Beneath, the glossy river slept in shadow, 
or spread far and wide in sheets of burnished bronze ; 
and the white moon, paling in the face of day, hung 
like a disk of silver in the western sky. Now a 



t618.] CHAMPLAIN ON THE OTTAWA. 3T9 

fervid light touched the dead top of the hemlock, 
and creeping downward bathed the mossy beard of 
the patriarchal cedar, unstirred in the breathless air; 
now a fiercer spark beamed from the east; and now, 
half risen on the sight, a dome of crimson fire, the 
sun blazed with floods of radiance across the awakened 
wilderness. 

The canoes were launched again, and the voyagers 
held their course. Soon the still surface was flecked 
with spots of foam; islets of froth floated by, tokens 
of some great convulsion. Then, on their left, the 
falling curtain of the Rideau shone like silver betwixt 
its bordering woods, and in front, white as a snow- 
drift, the cataracts of the Chaudi^re barred their 
way. They saw the unbridled river careering down 
its sheeted rocks, foaming in unfathomed chasms, 
wearying the solitude with the hoarse outcry of its 
agony and rage. 

On the brink of the rocky basin where the plung- 
ing torrent boiled like a caldron, and puffs of spray 
sprang out from its concussion like smoke from the 
throat of a cannon, Champlain's two Indians took 
their stand, and, with a loud invocation, threw 
tobacco into the foam, — an offering to the local 
spirit, the Manitou of the cataract.^ 

1 An invariable custom with the upper Indians on passing this place. 
When many were present, it was attended with solemn dances and 
speeches, a contribution of tobacco being first taken on a dish. It was 
thought to insure a safe voyage ; but was often an occasion of disaster, 
since hostile war parties, lying in ambush at the spot, would surprise 
and kill the votaries of the Manitou in the very presence of their 



380 THE IMPOSTOR VIGNAU. [1613. 

They shouldered their canoes over the rocks, and 
through the woods ; then launched them again, and, 
with toil and struggle, made their amphibious way, 
pushing dragging, lifting, paddling, shoving with 
poles; till, when the evening sun poured its level 
rays across the quiet Lake of the Chaudi^re, they 
landed, and made their camp on the verge of a woody 
island. 

Day by day brought a renewal of their toils. Hour 
by hour, they moved prosperously up the long wind- 
ings of the solitary stream; then, in quick succes- 
sion, rapid followed rapid, till the bed of the Ottawa 
seemed a slope of foam. Now, like a wall bristling 
at the top with woody islets, the Falls of the Chats 
faced them with the sheer plunge of their sixteen 
cataracts; now they glided beneath overhanging 
cliffs, where, seeing but unseen, the crouched wild- 
cat eyed them from the thicket; now through the 
maze of water-girded rocks, which the white cedar 
and the spruce clasped with serpent-like roots, or 
among islands where old hemlocks darkened the 
water with deep green shadow. Here, too, the rock- 
maple reared its verdant masses, the beech its glisten- 
ing leaves and clean, smooth stem, and behind, stiff 
and sombre, rose the balsam-fir. Here in the tortuous 
channels the muskrat swam and plunged, and the 
splashing wild duck dived beneath the alders or 
among the red and matted roots of thirsty water- 
guardian. It is on the return voyage that Champlain particularly 
describes the sacrifice. 



1613.] FOREST TRAVELLERS. 381 

willows. Aloft, the white-pine towered above a sea 
of verdure; old fir-trees, hoary and grim, shaggy 
with pendent mosses, leaned above the stream, and 
beneath, dead and submerged, some fallen oak thrust 
from the current its bare, bleached limbs, like the 
skeleton of a drowned giant. In the weedy cove 
stood the moose, neck-deep in water to escape the 
flies, wading shoreward, with glistening sides, as the 
canoes drew near, shaking his broad antlers and 
writhing his hideous nostril, as with clumsy trot he 
vanished in the woods. 

I In these ancient wilds, to whose ever verdant 
antiquity the pyramids are young and Nineveh a 
mushroom of yesterday; where the sage wanderer of 
the Odyssey, could he have urged his pilgrimage so 
far, would have surveyed the same grand and stern 
monotony, the same dark sweep of melancholy woods, 
— here, while New England was a solitude, and the 
settlers of Virginia scarcely dared venture inland 
beyond the sound of a cannon-shot, Champlain was 
planting on shores and islands the emblems of his 
faith. Of the pioneers of the North American forests, 
his name stands foremost on the list. It was he 
who struck the deepest and boldest strokes into the 
heart of their pristine barbarism. At Chantilly, at 
Fontainebleau, Paris, in the cabinets of princes and 
of royalty itself, mingling with the proud vanities of 
the court; then lost from sight in the depths of 
Canada, the companion of savages, sharer of their 
toils, privations, and battles, more hardy, patient, 



882 THE IMPOSTOR VIGNAU. [1613. 

and bold than they, — such, for successive years, were 
the alternations of this man's life. 

To follow on his trail once more. His Indians said 
that the rapids of the river above were impassable. 
Nicolas de Yignau affirmed the contrary; but, from 
the first, Vignau had been found always in the 
wrong. His aim seems to have been to involve his 
leader in difficulties, and disgust him with a journey 
which must soon result in exposing the imposture 
which had occasioned it. Champlain took counsel of 
the Indians. The party left the river, and entered 
the forest. 

"We had a hard march," says Champlain. "I 
carried for my share of the luggage three arquebuses, 
three paddles, my overcoat, and a few hagatelles. My 
men carried a little more than I did, and suffered 
more from the mosquitoes than from their loads. 
After we had passed four small ponds and advanced 
two leagues and a half, we were so tired that we 
could go no farther, having eaten nothing but a little 
roasted fish for nearly twenty-four hours. So we 
stopped in a pleasant place enough by the edge of a 
pond, and lighted a fire to drive off the mosquitoes, 
which plagued us beyond all description; and at the 
same time we set our nets to catch a few fish." 

On the next day they fared still worse, for their 
way was through a pine forest where a tornado had 
passed, tearing up the trees and piling them one upon 
another in a vast "windfall," where boughs, roots, 
and trunks were mixed in confusion. Sometimes 



1613.] MUSKRAT LAKE. 383 

they climbed over and sometimes crawled through 
these formidable barricades, till, after an exhausting 
march, they reached the banks of Muskrat Lake, by 
the edge of which was an Indian settlement.^ 

This neighborhood was the seat of the principal 
Indian population of the river, ^ and, as the canoes 
advanced, unwonted signs of human life could be 
seen on the borders of the lake. Here was a rough 
clearing. The trees had been burned; there was a 
rude and desolate gap in the sombre green of the pine 
forest. Dead trunks, blasted and black with fire, 

1 In 1867 a man in the employ of Captain Overman found, on the 
line of march followed hy Champlain from the pond where he passed 
the night to Muskrat Lake, a brass astrolabe bearing the date 1 603. 
As the astrolabe, an antiquated instrument for taking latitudes, was 
not many years after Champlain's day superseded by the quadrant, at 
least so far as Erench usage was concerned, the conjecture is admissible 
that this one was dropped by him. See a pamphlet by A. J. Russell, 
Champlain's Astrolabe (Montreal, 1879), and another by 0. H. Marshall, 
Discovery of an Astrolabe supposed to have been lost by Champlain (New 
York, 1879). 

2 Usually called Algoumequins or Algonquins, by Champlain and 
other early writers, — a name now always used in a generic sense to 
designate a large family of cognate tribes, speaking languages radi- 
cally similar, and covering a vast extent of country. 

The Algonquins of the Isle des AUumettes and its neighborhood are 
most frequently mentioned by the early writers as la Nation de I'Isle. 
Lalemant {Relation des Hurons, 1639) calls them Ehonkeronons. Vi- 
mout {Relation, 1640) calls them Kichesipirini. The name Algonquin 
was used generically as early as the time of Sagard, whose Histoire du 
Canada appeared in 1636. Champlain always limits it to the tribes of 
the Ottawa. 

Isle des AUumettes was called Isle du Borgne, from a renowned one- 
eyed chief who made his abode here, and who, after greatly exas- 
perating the Jesuits by his evil courses, at last became a convert and 
died in the faith. They regarded the people of this island as the 
haughtiest of all the tribes. Le Jeune, Relation (1636), 230. 



384 THE IMPOSTOR VIGFAU. [1613. 

stood grimly upright amid the charred stumps and 
prostrate bodies of comrades half consumed. In the 
intervening spaces, the soil had been feebly scratched 
with hoes of wood or bone, and a crop of maize was 
growing, now some four inches high. ^ The dwellings 
of these slovenly farmers, framed of poles covered 
with sheets of bark, were scattered here and there, 
singly or in groups, while their tenants were running 
to the shore in amazement. The chief, Nibachis, 
offered the calumet, then harangued the crowd; 
" These white men must have fallen from the clouds. 
How else could they have reached us through the 
woods and rapids which even we find it hard to pass ? 
The French chief can do anything. All that we 
have heard of him must be true. " And they hastened 
to regale the hungry visitors with a repast of fish. 

Champlain asked for guidance to the settlements 
above. It was readily granted. Escorted by his 
friendly hosts, he advanced beyond the foot of 
Muskrat Lake, and, landing, saw the unaccustomed 
sight of pathways through the forest. They led to 
the clearings and cabins of a chief named Tessouat, 
who, amazed at the apparition of the white strangers, 
exclaimed that he must be in a dream. ^ Next, the 

1 Champlain, Quatriesme Voyage, 29. This is a pamphlet of fifty- 
two pages, containing the journal of his voyage of 1613, and apparently 
published at the close of that year. 

2 Tessouat's village seems to have been on the lower Lac des Allu- 
mettes, a wide expansion of that arm of the Ottawa which flows along 
the southern side of Isle des Allumettes. Champlain, perhaps from 
the loss of his astrolabe, is wrong, by one degree, in his reckoning of 



1613.] INDIAN FEAST. 885 

voyagers crossed to the neighboring island, then 
deeply wooded with pine, elm, and oak. Here were 
more desolate clearings, more rude cornfields and 
bark-built cabins. Here, too, was a cemetery, which 
excited the wonder of Champlain, for the dead were 
better cared for than the living. Each grave was 
covered with a double row of pieces of wood, inclined 
like a roof till they crossed at the ridge, along which 
was laid a thick tablet of wood, meant apparently 
either to bind the whole together or protect it from 
rain. At one end stood an upright tablet, or flat- 
tened post, rudely carved with an intended represen- 
tation of the features of the deceased. If a chief, 
the head was adorned with a plume. If a warrior, 
there were figures near it of a shield, a lance, a war- 
club, and a bow and arrows ; if a boy, of a small bow 
and one arrow; and if a woman or a girl, of a kettle, 
an earthen pot, a wooden spoon, and a paddle. The 
whole was decorated with red and yellow paint; and 
beneath slept the departed, wrapped in a robe of 
skins, his earthly treasures about him, ready for use 
in the land of souls. 

Tessouat was to give a tahagie^ or solemn feast, in 
honor of Champlain, and the chiefs and elders of the 
island were invited. Runners were sent to summon 
the guests from neighboring hamlets; and, on the 
morrow, Tessouat's squaws swept his cabin for the 

the latitude, 47° for 46°, Tessouat was father, or predecessor, of the 
chief Le Borgne, whose Indian name was the same. See note 2, antey 
p. 383. 

25 



386 THE IMPOSTOK VIGNAU. [1613. 

festivity. Then Champlain and his Frenchmen were 
seated on skins in the place of honor, and the naked 
guests appeared in quick succession, each with his 
wooden dish and spoon, and each ejaculating his 
guttural salute as he stooped at the low door. The 
spacious cabin was full. The congregated wisdom 
and prowess of the nation sat expectant on the bare 
earth. Each long, bare arm thrust forth its dish in 
turn as the host served out the banquet, in which, as 
courtesy enjoined, he himself was to have no share. 
First, a mess of pounded maize, in which were boiled, 
without salt, morsels of fish and dark scraps of meat; 
then, fish and flesh broiled on the embers, with a 
kettle of cold water from the river. Champlain, in 
wise distrust of Ottawa cookery, confined himself to 
the simpler and less doubtful viands. A few minutes, 
and all alike had vanished. The kettles were empty. 
Then pipes were filled and touched with fire brought 
in by the squaws, while the young men who had stood 
thronged about the entrance now modestly withdrew, 
and the door was closed for counsel. ^ 

First, the pipes were passed to Champlain. Then, 
for full half an hour, the assembly smoked in silence. 
At length, when the fitting time was come, he 

1 Champlain's account of this feast {Quatriesme Voyage, 32) is un- 
usually minute and graphic. In every particular — excepting the 
pounded maize — it might, as the writer can attest from personal 
experience, be taken as the description of a similar feast among some 
of the tribes of the Far West at the present day, — as, for example, 
one of the remoter bands of the Pacotah, a race radically distinct from 
the Algonquin. 



1613.] INDIAN COUNCIL. 387 

addressed them in a speech in which he declared, 
that, moved by affection for them, he visited their 
country to see its richness and its beauty, and to aid 
them in their wars; and he now begged them to 
furnish liim with four canoes and eight men, to con- 
vey liim to the country of the Nipissings, a tribe 
dwelling northward on the lake which bears their 
name.^ 

His audience looked grave, for they were but cold 
and jealous friends of the Nipissings. For a time 
they discoursed in murmuring tones among them- 
selves, all smoking meanwhile with redoubled vigor. 
Then Tessouat, chief of these forest republicans, rose 
and spoke in behalf of all : — 

" We always knew you for our best friend among 
the Frenchmen. We love you like our own children. 
But why did you break your word with us last year 
when we all went down to meet you at Montreal, to 
give you presents and go with you to war? You 
were not there, but other Frenchmen were there who 
abused us. We will never go again. As for the 
four canoes, you shall have them if you insist upon 
it; but it grieves us to think of the hardships you 

1 The Nehecerini of Charaplain, called also Nipissingues, Nipii^sm' 
niens, Nibissiriniens, Bissir'iniens, Epiciriniens, by various early French 
writers. They are the Aslcikouanheronons of Lalemant, who borrowed 
the name from the Huron tongue, and were also called Sorciers from 
their ill repute as magicians. They belonged, like the Ottawas, to the 
great Algonquin family, and are considered by Charlevoix {Journal 
Historique, 186) a? alone preserving the original type of that race and 
language. They had, however, borrowed certain usages from their 
Huron neighbors. 



388 THE IMPOSTOR VIGNAU: [1613. 

must endure. The Nipissings have weak hearts. 
Thej are good for nothing in war, but they kill us 
with charms, and they poison us. Therefore we are 
on bad terms with them. They will kill you, too." 

Such was the pith of Tessouat's discourse, and at 
each clause the conclave responded in unison with an 
approving grunt. 

Champlain urged his petition; sought to relieve 
their tender scruples in his behalf; assured them that 
he was charm-proof, and that he feared no hardships. 
At length he gained his point. The canoes and the 
men were promised, and, seeing himself as he thought 
on the highway to his phantom Northern Sea, he left 
his entertainers to their pipes, and with a light heart 
issued from the close and smoky den to breathe the 
fresh air of the afternoon. He visited the Indian 
fields, with their young crops of pumpkins, beans, 
and French peas, — the last a novelty obtained from 
the traders.^ Here, Thomas, the interpreter, soon 
joined him with a countenance of ill news. In the 
absence of Champlain, the assembly had reconsidered 
their assent. The canoes were denied. 

With a troubled mind he hastened again to the 
hall of council, and addressed the naked senate in 
terms better suited to his exigencies than to their 
dignity : — • 

1 " Pour passer le reste du jour, je fus me pourmener paries jardins, 
qui n'estoient remplis que de quelques citrouilles, phasioles, et de nos 
pois, qu'il commencent k cultiver, ou Thomas, mon truchement, qui 
entendoit fort bien la langue, me vint trouver," etc. Champlain (1 632), 
Lib. IV. c. 2. 



1613.] INDIAN COUNCIL. 389 

"I thought you were men; I thought you would 
hold fast to your word: but I find you children, 
mtliout truth. You call yourselves my friends, yet 
you break faith with me. Still I would not incom- 
mode you ; and if you cannot give me four canoes, 
two will serve." ^ 

The burden of the reply was, rapids, rocks, cata- 
racts, and the wickedness of the Nipissings. "We 
will not give you the canoes, because we are afraid of 
losing you, " they said. 

" This young man, " rejoined Champlain, pointing 
to Vignau, who sat by his side, "has been to their 
country, and did not find the road or the people so 
bad as you have said." 

"Nicolas," demanded Tessouat, "did you say that 
you had been to the Nipissings ? " 

The impostor sat mute for a time, and then replied, 
"Yes, I have been there." 

Hereupon an outcry broke from the assembly, and 
they turned their eyes on him askance, "as if," says 
Champlain, "they would have torn and eaten him." 

"You are a liar," returned the unceremonious 
host; "you know very well that you slept here among 
my children every night, and got up again every 
morning ; and if you ever went to the Nipissings, it 
must have been when you were asleep. How can 
you be so impudent as to lie to your chief, and so 

^ ". . . et leur dis, que je les avois jusques ^ ce jour estimez 
hommes, et veritables, et que maintenant ils ce monstroieut enfauts et 
mensongers/' etc. Champlain (1632), Lib. IV. c. 2. 



390 THE IMPOSTOR YIGNAU. [1613. 

wicked as to risk his life among so many dangers? 
He ought to kill you with tortures worse than those 
with which we kill our enemies."^ 

Champlain urged him to reply, but he sat motion- 
less and dumb. Then he led him from the cabin, 
and conjured him to declare if in truth he had seen 
this sea of the north. Vignau, with oaths, affirmed 
that all he had said was true. Returning to the 
council, Champlain repeated the impostor's story — 
how he had seen the sea, the wreck of an English 
ship, the heads of eighty Englishmen, and an English 
boy, prisoner among the Indians. 

At this, an outcry rose louder than before, and the 
Indians turned in ire upon Vignau. 

"You are a liar." "Which way did you go?" 
" By what rivers ? " " By what lakes ? " " Who went 
with you?" 

Vignau had made a map of his travels, which 
Champlain now produced, desiring him to explain it 
to his questioners ; but his assurance failed him, and 
he could not utter a word. 

Champlain was greatly agitated. His heart was in 
the enterprise, his reputation was in a measure at 

1 "Alors Tessouat . . . luy dit en son Ian gage : Nicolas, est-il 
vray que tu as dit avoir este aux Nebecerinil II fut lougtemps sans 
parler, puis il leur dit en leur langue, qu'il parloit aucunement : Guy 
fy ay este'. Aussitost ils le regarderent de travers, et se jettant sur 
luy, comme s'ils I'eussent voulu manger ou deschirer, firent de grands 
cris, et Tessouat luy dit : Tu es un asseure' menteur : tu S9ais bien que 
tons les soirs tu couchois k mes eostez avec mes enfants, et tons les 
matins tu t'y levois : si tu as este vers ces peuples, 9'a este' en dormant," 
etc. Champlain (1632), Lib. IV. c. 2. 



1613.] THE IMPOSTOR UNMASKED. 391 

stake; and now, when he thought his triumph so 
near, he shrank from believing himself the sport of an 
impudent impostor. The council broke up, — the 
Indians displeased and moody, and he, on his part, 
full of anxieties and doubts. 

"I called Vignau to me in presence of his com- 
panions," he says. "I told him that the time for 
deceiving me was ended; that he must tell me 
whether or not he had really seen the things he had 
told of; that I had forgotten the past, but that, if he 
continued to mislead me, I would have him hanged 
without mercy." 

Vignau pondered for a moment; then fell on his 
knees, OAvned his treachery, and begged forgiveness. 
Champlain broke into a rage, and, unable, as he says, 
to endure the sight of him, ordered him from his 
presence, and sent the interpreter after him to make 
further examination. Vanity, the love of notoriety, 
and the hope of reward, seem to have been his induce- 
ments; for he had in fact spent a quiet winter in 
Tessouat's cabin, his nearest approach to the northern 
sea ; and he had flattered himself that he might escape 
the necessity of guiding his commander to this pre- 
tended discovery. The Indians were somewhat 
exultant. 

"Why did you not listen to chiefs and warriors, 
instead of believing the lies of this fellow?" And 
they counselled Champlain to have him killed at 
once, adding, " Give him to us, and we promise you 
that he shall never lie again. " 



892 THE IMPOSTOR VIGNAU. [1613. 

No motive remaining for farther advance, tlie party 
set out on their return, attended by a fleet of forty 
canoes bound to Montreal ^ for trade. They passed 
the perilous rapids of the Calumet, and were one 
night encamped on an island, when an Indian, slum- 
bering in an uneasy posture, was visited with a 
nightmare. He leaped up with a yell, screamed that 
somebody was killing him, and ran for refuge into the 
river. Instantly all his companions sprang to their 
feet, and, hearing in fancy the Iroquois war-whoop, 
took to the water, splashing, diving, and wading up 
to their necks, in the blindness of their fright. 
Champlain and his Frenchmen, roused at the noise, 
snatched their weapons and looked in vain for an 
enemy. The panic-stricken warriors, reassured at 
length, waded crestfallen ashore, and the whole ended 
in a laugh. 

At the Chaudi^re, a contribution of tobacco was 
collected on a wooden platter, and, after a solemn, 
harangue, was thrown to the guardian Manitou. On 
the seventeenth of June they approached Montreal, 
where the assembled traders greeted them with dis- 
charges of small arms and cannon. Here, among the 
rest, was Champlain's lieutenant, Du Pare, with his 
men, who had amused their leisure with hunting, and 
were revelling in a sylvan abundance, while their 
baffled chief, with worry of mind, fatigue of body, 
and a Lenten diet of half-cooked fish, was grievously 

1 The name is used here for distinctness. The locality is indicated 
by Champlain as Le Saut, from the Saut St. Louis, immediately above. 



1613.] EMBARKS FOR FRANCE. 893 

fallen away in flesh and strength. He kept his word 
with De Vignau, left the scoundrel unpunished, bade 
farewell to the Indians, and, promising to rejoin them 
the next year, embarked in one of the trading-ships 
for France. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

1615. 

DISCOVERY OF LAKE HURON. 

Religious Zeal of Champlain. — Recollet Eriars. — St. Eran- 
cis. — Exploration and War. — Le Caron on the Ottawa, — 
Champlain reaches Lake Huron. — The Huron Towns. — 
Mass in the Wilderness. 

In New France, spiritual and temporal interests 
were inseparably blended, and, as will hereafter 
appear, the conversion of the Indians was used as a 
means of commercial and political growth. But, 
with the single-hearted founder of the colony, con- 
siderations of material advantage, though clearly 
recognized, were no less clearly subordinate. He 
would fain rescue from perdition a people living, as 
he says, "like brute beasts, without faith, without 
law, without religion, without God." While the 
want of funds and the indifference of his merchant 
associates, who as yet did not fully see that their 
trade would find in the missions its surest ally, were 
threatening to wreck his benevolent schemes, he 
found a kindred spirit in his friend Houel, secretary 
to the King, and comptroller-general of the salt- 
works of Brouage. Near this town was a convent of 



1615.] R^COLLET FRIARS. 395 

Rdcollet friai-s, some of whom were well known to 
Houel. To them he addressed hmiself ; and several 
of the brotherhood, "inflamed," we are told, "with 
charity," were eager to undertake the mission. But 
the R^coUets, mendicants by profession, were as weak 
in resources as Champlain himself. He repaired to 
Paris, then filled with bishops, cardinals, and nobles, 
assembled for the States-General. Responding to his 
appeal, they subscribed fifteen hundred livres for the 
purchase of vestments, candles, and ornaments for 
altai-s. The King gave letters patent in favor of the 
mission, and the Pope gave it his formal authoriza- 
tion. By this instrument the papacy in the person of 
Paul the Fifth virtually repudiated the action of the 
papacy in the person of Alexander the Sixth, who 
had proclaimed all America the exclusive property of 
Spain. ^ 

The Rdcollets form a branch of the great Franciscan 
Order, founded early in the thirteenth century by 
Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint, hero, or madman, 
according to the point of view from which he is 
regarded, he belonged to an era of the Church when 
the tumult of invading heresies aAvakened in her 
defence a band of impassioned champions, widely 
different from the placid saints of an earlier age. He 
was very young when dreams and voices began to 
reveal to him his vocation, and kindle his high- 
wrought nature to sevenfold heat. Self-respect, 

1 The papal brief and the royal letter are in Sagard, Histoire de la 
Nouvelle France, and Le Clerc, JStahlissement de la Foy. 



396 DISCOVERY OF LAKE HUR0:N^. [1615. 

natural affection, decency, became in his eyes but 
stumbling-blocks and snares. He robbed his father 
to build a church; and, like so many of the Roman 
Catholic saints, confounded filth with humility, 
exchanged clothes with beggars, and walked the 
streets of Assisi in rags amid the hootings of his 
townsmen. He vowed perpetual poverty and per- 
petual beggary, and, in token of his renunciation of 
the world, stripped himself naked before the Bishop 
of Assisi, and then begged of him in charity a 
peasant's mantle. Crowds gathered to his fervid and 
dramatic eloquence. His handful of disciples multi- 
plied, till Europe became thickly dotted with their 
convents. At the end of the eighteenth century, the 
three Orders of Saint Francis numbered a hundred 
and fifteen thousand friars and twenty-eight thousand 
nuns. Four popes, forty-five cardinals, and forty-six 
canonized martyrs were enrolled on their record, 
besides about two thousand more who had shed their 
blood for the faith. ^ Their missions embraced nearly 
all the known world; and, in 1621, there were in Span- 
ish America alone five hundred Franciscan convents. ^ 
In process of time the Franciscans had relaxed 
their ancient rigor; but much of their pristine spirit 
still subsisted in the Rdcollets, a reformed branch of 
the Order, sometimes known as Franciscans of the 
Strict Observance. 

1 Helyot, Histoire des Ordres Religieux et Militaires, devotes his 
seventh volume (ed. 1792) to the Franciscans and Jesuits. He draws 
largely from the great work of Wadding on the Franciscans. 

2 Le Clerc, Etahlissement de la Foij, I. 33-52. 



1615.] R^COLLET FRIARS. 897 

Four of their number were named for the mission 
of New France, — Denis Jamay, Jean Dolbeau, 
Joseph le Caron, and the lay brother Pacifique du 
Plessis. "They packed their church ornaments,'* 
says Champlain, "and we, our luggage." All alike 
confessed their sins, and, embarking at Honfleur, 
reached Quebec at the end of May, 1615. Great 
was the perplexity of the Indians as the apostolic 
mendicants landed beneath the rock. Their garb 
was a form of that common to the brotherhood 
of Saint Francis, consisting of a rude garment of 
coarse gray cloth, girt at the waist with the knotted 
cord of the Order, and furnished with a peaked 
hood, to be drawn over the head. Their naked feet 
were shod with wooden sandals, more than an inch 
thick. 1 

Their first care was to choose a site for their con- 
vent, near the fortified dwellings and storehouses 
built by Champlain. This done, they made an altar, 
and celebrated the first mass ever said in Canada. 
Dolbeau was the officiating priest | all New France 
kneeled on the bare earth around him, and cannon 
from the ship and the ramparts hailed the mystic 
rite. 2 Then, in imitation of the Apostles, they took 
counsel together, and assigned to each his province 
in the vast field of their mission, — to Le Caron the 
Hurons, and to Dolbeau the Montagnais; while 

1 An engraving of their habit will be found in Helyot (1792), 

2 Lettre du P. Jean Dolbeau au P. Didace David, son ami ; de Quebec 
le 20 Juillet, 1615. See Le Clerc, J^tablissement de la Fay, I. 62. 



39S DISCOVERY OF LAKE HURON. [1615. 

Jamay and Du Plessis were to remain for the present 
near Quebec. 

Dolbeau, full of zeal, set out for his post, and in 
the next winter tried to follow the roving hordes of 
Tadoussac to their frozen hunting-grounds. He was 
not robust, and his eyes were weak. Lodged in a 
hut of birch bark, full of abominations, dogs, fleas, 
stench, and all uncleanness, he succumbed at length 
to the smoke, which had wellnigh blinded him, forc- 
ing him to remain for several days with his eyes 
closed. 1 After debating within himself whether God 
required of him the sacrifice of his sight, he solved 
his doubts with a negative, and returned to Quebec, 
only to depart again with opening spring on a tour so 
extensive that it brought him in contact with outly- 
ing bands of the Esquimaux.^ Meanwhile Le Caron 
had long been absent on a more noteworthy mission. 

While his brethren were building their convent and 
garnishing their altar at Quebec, the ardent friar had 
hastened to the site of Montreal, then thronged with 
a savage concourse come down for the yearly trade. 
He mingled with them, studied their manners, tried 
to learn their languages, and, when Champlain and 
Pontgrav^ arrived, declared his purpose of winter- 
ing in their villages. Dissuasion availed nothing. 
"What," he demanded, "are privations to him whose 
life is devoted to perpetual poverty, and who has no 
ambition but to serve God? " 

1 Sagard, Hist, de la Nouvelh France, 26. 

2 Le Clerc, J^tablissement de la Foy, I. 71. 



1615.] POLICY OF CHAMPLAIN. S99 

The assembled Indians were more eager for tem- 
poral than for spiritual succor, and beset Champlain 
•with clamors for aid against the Iroquois. He and 
Pontgravd were of one mind. The aid demanded 
must be given, and that from no motive of the hour, 
but in pursuance of a deliberate policy. It was evi- 
dent that the innumerable tribes of New France, 
otherwise divided, were united in a common fear and 
hate of these formidable bands, who, in the strength 
of their fivefold league, spread havoc and desolation 
through all the surrounding wilds. It was the aim 
of Champlain, as of his successors, to persuade the 
threatened and endangered hordes to live at peace 
with each other, and to form against the common foe 
a virtual league, of which the French colony would 
be the heart and the head, and which would con- 
tinually widen with the widening area of discovery. 
With French soldiers to fight their battles, French 
priests to baptize them, and French traders to supply 
their increasing wante, their dependence would be 
complete. They would become assured tributaries to 
the growth of New France. It was a triple alliance 
of soldier, priest, and trader. The soldier might be 
a roving knight, and the priest a martyr and a saint; 
but both alike were subserving the interests of that 
commerce which formed the only solid basis of the 
colony. The scheme of English colonization made 
no account of the Indian tribes. In the scheme of 
French colonization they were all in all. 

In one point the plan was fatally defective, since it 



400 DISCOVERY OF LAKE HURON. [1615. 

involved the deadly enmity of a race whose character 
and whose power were as yet but ill understood, — the 
fiercest, boldest, most politic, and most ambitious 
savages to whom the American forest has ever given 
birth. 

The chiefs and warriors met in council, — Algon- 
quins of the Ottawa, and Hurons from the borders of 
the great Fresh-Water Sea. Champlain promised to 
join them with all the men at his command, while 
they, on their part, were to muster without delay 
twenty-five hundred warriors for an inroad into the 
country of the Iroquois. He descended at once to 
Quebec for needful preparation; but when, after a 
short delay, he returned to Montreal, he found, to 
his chagrin, a solitude. The wild concourse had 
vanished ; nothing remained but the skeleton poles of 
their huts, the smoke of their fires, and the refuse of 
their encampments. Impatient at his delay, they had 
set out for their villages, and with them had gone 
Father Joseph le Caron. 

Twelve Frenchmen, well armed, had attended him. 
Summer was at its height, and as his canoe stole 
along the bosom of the glassy river, and he gazed 
about him on the tawny multitude whose fragile craft 
covered the water like swarms of gliding insects, he 
thought, perhaps, of his whitewashed cell in the 
convent of Brouage, of his book, his table, his rosary, 
and all the narrow routine of that familiar life from 
which he had awakened to contrasts so startling. 
That his progress up the Ottawa was far from being 



1615.] LE CAROL'S JOURNEY. 401 

an excursion of pleasure is attested by his letters, 
fragments of which have come down to us. 

"It would be hard to tell you," he writes to a 
friend, "how tired I was with paddling all day, with 
all my strength, among the Indians; wading the 
rivers a hundred times and more, through the mud 
and over the sharp rocks that cut my feet; carrjdng 
the canoe and luggage through the woods to avoid 
the rapids and frightful cataracts; and half starved 
all the while, for we had nothing to eat but a little 
sagamite, a sort of porridge of water and pounded 
maize, of which they gave us a very small allowance 
every morning and night. But I must needs tell you 
what abundant consolation I found under all my 
troubles ; for when one sees so many infidels needing 
nothing but a drop of water to make them children 
of God, one feels an inexpressible ardor to labor for 
their conversion, and sacrifice to it one's repose and 
Hfe.^i 

Another RdcoUet, Gabriel Sagard, followed the 
same route in similar company a few years later, and 
has left an account of his experience, of which Le 
Caron's was the counterpart. Sagard reckons from 

^ "... Car helas quand on voit un si grand nombre d'Infidels, et 
qu'il ne tient qu'k une goutte d'eau pour les rendre enfans de Dieu, on 
ressent je ne syay quelle ardeur de travailler a leur conversion et d'y 
sacrifier son repos et sa vie." Le Caron, in Le Clerc, I. 74. Le Clere, 
usually exact, affixes a wrong date to Le Caron's departure, which 
took place, not in the autumn, but about the first of July, Champlain 
following on the ninth. Of Champlain the editions consulted have 
been those of 1620 and 1627, the narrative being abridged in the edi- 
tion of 1632. Compare Sagard, Histoire de la Nouvelle France. 

86 



402 DISCOVERY OF LAKE HURON. [1615. 

eighty to a hundred waterfalls and rapids in the 
course of the journey, and the task of avoiding them 
by pushing through the woods was the harder for 
him because he saw fit to go barefoot, " in imitation 
of our seraphic father. Saint Francis.'* "We often 
came upon rocks, mudholes, and fallen trees, which 
we had to scramble over, and sometimes we must 
force our way with head and hands through dense 
woods and thickets, without road or path. When 
the time came, my Indians looked for a good place to 
pass the night. Some went for dry wood ; others for 
poles to make a shed; others kindled a fire, and hung 
the kettle to a stick stuck aslant in the ground; and 
others looked for two fiat stones to bruise the Indian 
corn, of which they make sagamite." 

This sagamite was an extremely thin porridge; 
and, though scraps of fish were now and then boiled 
in it, the friar pined away daily on this weak and 
scanty fare, which was, moreover, made repulsive to 
him by the exceeding filthiness of the cookery. 
Nevertheless, he was forced to disguise his feelings, 
" One must always keep a smiling, modest, contented 
face, and now and then sing a hymn, both for his 
own consolation and to please and edify the savages, 
who take a singular pleasure in hearing us sing the 
praises of our God." Among all his trials, none 
afflicted him so much as the flies and mosquitoes. 
" If I had not kept my face wrapped in a cloth, I am 
almost sure they would have blinded me, so pestiferous 
and poisonous are the bites of these little demons. 



1615.] CHAMPLAIN AT LAKE NIPISSING. 403 

They make one look like a leper, hideous to the sight. 
I confess that this is the worst martyrdom I suffered 
in this country; hunger, thirst, weariness, and fever 
are nothing to it. These little beasts not only perse- 
cute you all day, but at night they get into your eyes 
and mouth, crawl under your clothes, or stick their 
long stings through them, and make such a noise 
that it distracts your attention, and prevents you 
from saying your prayers." He reckons three or four 
kinds of them, and adds, that in the Montagnais 
country there is still another kind, so small that they 
can hardly be seen, but which "bite like devils' 
imps." The sportsman who has bivouacked in the 
woods of Maine will at once recognize the minute 
tormentors there known as "no-see-'ems." 

While through tribulations like these Le Caron 
made his way towards the scene of his apostleship, 
Champlain was following on his track. With two 
canoes, ten Indians, Etienne Brul^ his interpreter, 
and another Frenchman, he pushed up the Ottawa 
till he reached the Algonquin villages which had 
formed the term of his former journeying. He passed 
the two lakes of the Allumettes ; and now, for twenty 
miles, the river stretched before him, straight as the 
bee can fly, deep, narrow, and black, between its 
mountain shores. He passed the rapids of the 
Joachims and the Caribou, the Eocher Capitaine, and 
the Deux Rivieres, and reached at length the tribu- 
tary waters of the Mattawan. He turned to the left, 
ascended this little stream forty miles or more, and, 



404 DISCOVERY OF LAKE HURON. [1615. 

crossing a portage track, well trodden, reached the 
margin of Lake Nipissing. The canoes were launched 
again, and glided by leafy shores and verdant islands 
till at length appeared signs of human life and clusters 
of bark lodges, half hidden in the vastness of the 
woods. It was the village of an Algonquin band, 
called the Nipissings, — a race so beset with spirits, 
infested by demons, and abounding in magicians, 
that the Jesuits afterwards stigmatized them as " the 
Sorcerers." In this questionable company Champlain 
spent two days, feasted on fish, deer, and bears. 
Then, descending to the outlet of the lake, he steered 
his canoes westward down the current of French 
River. > 

Days passed, and no sign of man enlivened the 
rocky desolation. Hunger was pressing them hard, 
for the ten gluttonous Indians had devoured already 
nearly all their provision for the voyage, and they 
were forced to subsist on the blueberries and wild 
raspberries that grew abundantty in the meagre soil, 
when suddenly they encountered a troop of three 
hundred savages, whom, from their strange and start- 
ling mode of wearing their hair, Champlain named 
the Cheveux Beleves. "Not one of our courtiers," he 
says, "takes so much pains in dressing his locks." 
Here, however, their care of the toilet ended; for, 
though tattooed on various parts of the body, painted, 
and armed with bows, arrows, and shields of bison- 
hide, they wore no clothing whatever. Savage as 
was their aspect, they were busied in the pacific task 



1615.] FIRST SIGHT OF THE LAKE. 405 

of gathering blueberries for their winter store. Their 
demeanor was friendly ; and from them tke voyager 
learned that the great lake of the Hurons was close 
at hand.^ 

Now, far along the western sky was traced the 
watery line of that inland ocean, and, first of white 
men except the Friar Le Caron, Champlain beheld 
the "Mer Douce," the Fresh- Water Sea of the 
Hurons. Before him, too far for sight, lay the spirit- 
haunted Manitoualins, and, southward, spread the 
vast bosom of the Georgian Bay. For more than a 
hundred miles, his course was along its eastern shores, 
among islets countless as the sea-sands, — an archi- 
pelago of rocks worn for ages by the wash of waves. 
He crossed Byng Inlet, Franklin Inlet, Parry Sound, 
and the wider bay of Matchedash, and seems to have 
landed at the inlet now called Thunder Bay, at the 
entrance of the Bay of Matchedash, and a little west 
of the Harbor of Penetanguishine. 

An Indian trail led inland, through woods and 
thickets, across broad meadows, over brooks, and 

1 These savages belonged to a numerous Algonquin tribe who occu- 
pied a district west and southwest of the Nottawassaga Bay of Lake 
Huron, within the modern counties of Bruce and Grey, Canada West 
Sagard speaks of meeting a party of them near the place where they 
were met by Champlain. Sagard, Grand Voyage du Pays des Hurons, 
77. The Hurons called them Ondataouaouat or Ondatahouat, whence 
the name Outaouat (Ottawa), which is now commonly used to designate 
a particular tribe, or group of tribes, but which the French often em- 
ployed as a generic term for all the Algonquin tribes of the Upper 
Lakes. It is written in various forms by French and English writers, 
as Outouais, Outaouaks, Taivaas, Oadauwaus, Outauies, Outaouacs, Uta* 
was, Ottawwawwug, Ouitoaets, Outtawaats, Attawawas. 



406 DISCOYERY OF LAKE HUR0:N^. [1615. 

along the skirts of green acclivities. To the eye of 
Champlain, accustomed to the desolation he had left 
behind, it seemed a land of beauty and abundance. 
He reached at last a broad opening in the forest, 
with fields of maize, pumpkins ripening in the sun, 
patches of sunflowers, from the seeds of which the 
Indians made hair-oil, and, in the midst, the Huron 
town of Otouacha. In all essential points, it resembled 
that which Cartier, eighty years before, had seen at 
Montreal, — the same triple palisade of crossed and 
intersecting trunks, and the same long lodges of bark, 
each containing several families. Here, within an 
area of thirty or forty miles, was the seat of one of 
the most remarkable savage communities on the con- 
tinent. By the Indian standard, it was a mighty 
nation; yet the entire Huron population did not 
exceed that of a third or fourth class American 
city.i 

To the south and southeast lay other tribes of 
kindred race and tongue, all stationary, all tillers of 
the soil, and all in a state of social advancement 
when compared with the roving bands of Eastern 
Canada: the Neutral Nation 2 west of the Niagara, 

1 Champlain estimates the number of Huron villages at seventeen 
or eighteen. Le Jeune, Sagard, and Lalemant afterwards reckoned 
them at from twenty to thirty-two. Le Clerc, following Le Caron, 
makes the population about ten thousand souls ; but several later ob- 
servers, as well as Champlain himself, set it at above thirty thousand. 

2 A warlike people, called Neutral from their neutrality between 
the Hurons and the Iroquois, which did not save them from sharing 
the destruction which overwhelmed the former. 



1615.] THE FIRST MASS. 407 

and the Eries and Andastes in Western New York 
and Pennsylvania; while from the Genesee eastward 
to the Hudson lay the banded tribes of the Iroquois, 
leading members of this potent family, deadly foes of 
their Idndred, and at last their destroyers. 

In Champlain the Hurons saw the champion who 
was to lead them to victory. There was bountiful 
feasting in his honor in the great lodge at Otouacha ; 
and other welcome, too, was tendered, of which the 
Hurons were ever liberal, but which, with all 
courtesy, was declined by the virtuous Champlain. 
Next, he went to Carmaron, a league distant, and 
then to Touaguainchain and Tequenonquihaye; till 
at length he reached Carhagouha, with its triple 
palisade thirty-five feet high. Here he found Le 
Caron. The Indians, eager to do him honor, were 
building for him a bark lodge in the neighboring 
forest, fashioned like their own, but much smaller. 
In it the friar made an altar, garnished Avith those 
indispensable decorations which he had brought with 
him through all the vicissitudes of his painful jour- 
neying; and hither, night and day, came a curious 
multitude to listen to his annunciation of the new 
doctrine. It was a joyful hour when he saw Champlain 
approach his hermitage ; and the two men embraced 
like brothers long sundered. 

The twelfth of August was a day evermore marked 
with white in the friar's calendar. Arrayed in 
priestly vestments, he stood before his simple altar; 
behind him his little band of Christians, — the twelve 



408 



DISCOVERY OF LAKE HURON. 



[1615. 



Frenchmen who had attended him, and the two who 
had followed Champlain. Here stood their devout 
and valiant chief, and, at his side, that pioneer of 
pioneers, Etienne Brul^, the interpreter. The Host 
was raised aloft; the worshippers kneeled. Then 
their rough voices joined in the hymn of praise, Te 
Deum laudamiis ; and then a volley of their guns pro- 
claimed the triumph of the faith to the ohies^ the 
manitous, and all the brood of anomalous devils who 
had reigned with undisputed sway in these wild 
realms of darkness. The brave friar, a true soldier 
of the Church, had led her forlorn hope into the fast- 
nesses of hell; and now, with contented heart, he 
might depart in peace, for he had said the first mass 
in the country of the Hurons. 




CHAPTER XIV. 

1615, 1616. 

THE GKEAT WAR PARTY. 

Muster of Warriors. — Departure. — The River Trent. — • 
Lake Ontario. — The Iroquois Town. — Attack. — Repulse. 
— Champlain wounded. — Retreat. — Adventures op Eti- 
enne Brule. — Winter Hunt. — Champlain lost in the For- 
est. — Made Umpire op Indian Quarrels. 

The lot of the favored guest of an Indian camp or 
village is idleness without repose, for he is never left 
alone, with the repletion of incessant and inevitable 
feasts. Tired of this inane routine, Champlain, with 
some of his Frenchmen, set forth on a tour of obser- 
vation. Journeying at their ease by the Indian trails, 
they visited, in three days, five palisaded villages. 
The country delighted them, with its meadows, its 
deep woods, its pine and cedar thickets, full of hares 
and partridges, its wild grapes and plums, cherries, 
crab-apples, nuts, and raspberries. .It was the seven- 
teenth of August when they reached the Huron 
metropolis, Cahiagud, in the modern township of 
Orillia, three leagues west of the river Severn, by 
which Lake Simcoe pours its waters into the bay of 
Matchedash. A shrill clamor of rejoicing, the fixed 
stare of wondering squaws, and the screaming flight 



410 THE GKEAT WAR PARTY. [1615. 

of terrified children hailed the arrival of Champlain. 
By his estimate, the place contained two hundred 
lodges; but they must have been relatively small, 
since, had they been of the enormous capacity some- 
times found in these structures, Cahiague alone would 
have held the whole Huron population. Here was 
the chief rendezvous, and the town swarmed with 
gathering warriors. There was cheering news; for 
an allied nation, called Carantouans, probably iden- 
tical with the Andastes, had promised to join the 
Hurons in the enemy's country, with five hundred 
men.^ Feasts and the war-dance consumed the days, 
till at length the tardy bands had all arrived; and, 
shouldering their canoes and scanty baggage, the 
naked host set forth. 

At the outlet of Lake Simcoe they all stopped to 
fish, — their simple substitute for a commissariat. 
Hence, too, the intrepid Etienne Brule, at his own 
request, was sent with twelve Indians to hasten for- 
ward the five hundred allied warriors, — a dangerous 
venture, since his course must lie through the borders 
of the Iroquois. 

He set out on the eighth of September, and on the 
morning of the tenth, Champlain, shivering in his 
blanket, awoke to see the meadows sparkling with an 
early frost, soon to vanish under the bright autumnal 
sun. The Huron fleet pursued its course along Lake 

1 Champlain (1627), 31. While the French were aiding the Hurons 
against the Iroquois, the Dutch on the Hudson aided the Iroquois against 
this nation of allies, who captured three Dutchmen, but are said to havo 
set them free in the belief that they were French. Ibid. 



1615.] A DEER HUNT. 411 

Simcoe, across the portage to Balsam or Sturgeon 
Lake, and down the chain of lakes which form the 
sources of the river Trent. As the long line o^ 
canoes moved on its way, no human life was seen, no 
sign of friend or foe; yet at times, to the fancy of 
Champlain, the borders of the stream seemed decked 
with groves and shrubbery by the hands of man, and 
the walnut trees, laced with grape-vines, seemed 
decorations of a pleasure-ground. 

They stopped and encamped for a deer-hunt. Five 
hundred Indians, in line, like the skirmishers of an 
army advancing to battle, drove the game to the end 
of a woody point; and the canoe-men killed them 
with speai's and arrows as they took to the river. 
Champlain and his men keenly relished the sport, but 
paid a heavy price for their pleasure. A Frenchman, 
firing at a buck, brought down an Indian, and there 
was need of liberal gifts to console the sufferer and 
his friends. 

The canoes now issued from the mouth of the 
Trent. Like a flock of venturous wild-fowl, they put 
boldly out upon Lake Ontario, crossed it in safety, 
and landed within the borders of New York, on or 
near the point of land west of Hungry Bay. After 
hiding their light craft in the woods, the warriors 
took up their swift and wary march, filing in silence 
between the woods and the lake, for four leagues 
along the strand. Then they struck inland, threaded 
the forest, crossed the outlet of Lake Oneida, and 
after a march of four days, were deep within the 



412 THE GREAT WAR PARTY. [1615. 

limits of the Iroquois. On the ninth of October 
some of their scouts met a fishing-party of this 
people, and captured them, — eleven in number, men, 
women, and children. They were brought to the 
camp of the exultant Hurons. As a beginning of the 
jubilation, a chief cut off a finger of one of the women, 
but desisted from further torturing on the angry pro- 
test of Champlain, reserving that pleasure for a more 
convenient season. 

On the next day they reached an open space in the 
forest. The hostile town was close at hand, sur- 
rounded by rugged fields v/ith a slovenly and savage 
cultivation. The young Hurons in advance saw the 
Iroquois at work among the pumpkins and maize, 
gathering their rustling harvest. Nothing could 
restrain the hare-brained and ungoverned crew. 
They screamed their war-cry and rushed in; but the 
Iroquois snatched their weapons, killed and wounded 
five or six of the assailants, and drove back the rest 
discomfited. Champlain and his Frenchmen were 
forced to interpose; and the report of their pieces 
from the border of the woods stopped the pursuing 
enemy, who withdrew to their defences, bearing with 
them their dead and wounded.^ 

It appears to have been a fortified town of the 
Onondagas, the central tribe of the Iroquois confeder- 
acy, standing, there is some reason to believe, within 

1 Le Clerc (I. 79-87) gives a few particulars not mentioned by 
Champlain, whose account will be found in the editions of 1620, 1627, 
&Dd 1632. 



1615.] IROQUOIS FORTIFICATION. 413 

the limits of Madison County, a few miles south of 
Lake Oneida.^ Champlain describes its defensive 
works as much stronger than those of the Huron 
villages. They consisted of four concentric rows of 
palisades, formed of trunks of trees, thirty feet high, 
set aslant in the earth, and intersecting each other 
near the top, where they supported a kind of gallery, 
well defended by shot-proof timber, and furnished 
with wooden gutters for quenching fire. A pond or 
lake, which washed one side of the palisade, and was 
led by sluices within the town, gave an ample supply 
of water, while the galleries were well provided with 
magazines of stones. 

Champlain was greatly exasperated at the desultory 
and futile procedure of his Huron allies. Against 
his advice, they now withdrew to the distance of a 
cannon-shot from the fort, and encamped in the forest, 
out of sight of the enemy. "I was moved," he says, 
" to speak to them roughly and harshly enough, in 

1 Champlain calls the tribe Antouoronons, Antouhonorons, or Entou- 
konorons. I at first supposed them to be the Senecas, but further in- 
quiry leads me to believe that they were the Onondagas. Mr. 0. H. 
Marshall thinks that the town was on Lake Onondaga, and supports 
his opinion in an excellent article in the Magazine of American History. 
General John S. Clark has, however, shown that the site of an ancient 
Indian fort on Nichols Pond, in the to%vn of Fenner, Madison County, 
fulfils the conditions sufficiently to give some countenance to the sup- 
position of its identity with that described by Champlain. A plan of 
the locality was kindly sent me by Mr. L. W. Ledyard, and another by 
Rev. W. M. Beauchamp, whose careful examination of the spot con- 
firms but partially the conclusions of General Clark. Champlain's 
drawing of the fort was clearly made from memory, and contains obvi- 
OILS inaccuracies. 



414 THE GREAT WAR PARTY. [1615. 

order to incite them to do their duty; for I foresaw 
that if things went according to their fancy, nothing 
but harm could come of it, to their loss and ruin." 
He proceeded, therefore, to instruct them in the art 
of war. 

In the morning, aided doubtless by his ten or 
twelve Frenchmen, they set themselves with alacrity 
to their prescribed task. A wooden tower was made, 
high enough to overlook the palisade, and large 
enough to shelter four or five marksmen. Huge 
wooden shields, or movable parapets, like the mante- 
lets of the Middle Ages, were also constructed. 
Four hours sufficed to finish the work, and then the 
assault began. Two hundred of the strongest warriors 
dragged the tower forward, and planted it within a 
pike's length of the palisade. Three arquebusiers 
mounted to the top, where, themselves well sheltered, 
they opened a raking fire along the galleries, now 
thronged with wild and naked defenders. But noth- 
ing could restrain the ungovernable Hurons. They 
abandoned their mantelets, and, deaf to every com- 
mand, swarmed out like bees upon the open field, 
leaped, shouted, shrieked their war-cries, and shot 
off their arrows ; while the Iroquois, yelling defiance 
from their ramparts, sent back a shower of stones 
and arrows in reply. A Huron, bolder than the 
rest, ran forward with firebrands to burn the palisade, 
and others followed with wood to feed the flame. 
But it was stupidly kindled on the leeward side, 
without the protecting shields designed to cover it,* 



1615.] CHAMPLAIN WOUNDED. 415 

and torrents of water, poured down from the gutters 
above, quickly extinguished it. The confusion was 
redoubled. Champlain strove in vain to restore 
order. Each warrior was yelling at the top of his 
throat, and his voice was drowned in the outrageous 
din. Thinking, as he says, that his head would split 
with shouting, he gave over the attempt, and busied 
hunself and his men with picking off the Iroquois 
along their ramparts. 

The attack lasted three hours, when the assailants 
fell back to their fortified camp, with seventeen war- 
riors wounded. Champlain, too, had received an 
arrow in the knee, and another in the leg, which, for 
the time, disabled him. He was urgent, however, to 
renew the attack; while the Hurons, crestfallen and 
disheartened, refused to move from their camp unless 
the five hundred allies, for some time expected, 
should appear. They waited five days in vain, 
beguiling the interval with frequent skirmishes, in 
which they were always worsted ; then began hastily 
to retreat, carrying their wounded in the centre, 
while the Iroquois, sallying from their stronghold, 
showered arrows on their flanks and rear. The 
wounded, Champlain among the rest, after being 
packed in baskets made on the spot, were carried 
each on the back of a strong warrior, "bundled in 
a heap," says Champlain, "doubled and sti-apped 
together after such a fashion that one could move no 
more than an infant in swaddling-clothes. The pain 
is extreme, as I can truly say from experience, hav- 



416 THE GREAT WAR PARTY. [1615. 

ing been carried several days in this way, since I 
could not stand, chiefly on account of the arrow- 
wound I had got in the knee. I never was in such 
torment in my life, for the pain of the wound was 
nothing to that of being bound and pinioned on the 
back of one of our savages. I lost patience, and as 
soon as I could bear my weight I got out of this 
prison, or rather out of hell."^ 

At length the dismal march was ended. They 
reached the spot where their canoes were hidden, 
found them untouched, embarked, and recrossed to 
the northern shore of Lake Ontario. The Hurons 
had promised Champlain an escort to Quebec ; but as 
the chiefs had little power, in peace or war, beyond 
that of persuasion, each warrior found good reasons 
for refusing to lend his canoe. Champlain, too, had 
lost prestige. The "man with the iron breast "had 
proved not inseparably wedded to victory ; and though 
the fault was their own, yet not the less was the 
lustre of their hero tarnished. There was no alterna- 
tive. He must winter with the Hurons. The great 
war party broke into fragments, each band betaking 
itself to its hunting-ground. A chief named Durantal, 
or Darontal,^ offered Champlain the shelter of his 
lodge, and he was glad to accept it. 

Meanwhile, Etienne Bruld had found cause to rue 



1 Champlain (1627), 46. In the edition of 1632 there are some 
omissions and verbal changes in this part of the narrative. 

2 Champlain, w^ith his usual carelessness, calls him by either name 
indifferently. 



1616.] :^TIENNE BRULl^. 417 

the hour when he undertook his hazardous mission to 
the Carantouan allies. Three years passed before 
Champlain saw him. It was in the summer of 1618, 
that, reaching the Saut St. Louis, he there found the 
interpreter, his hands and his swarthy face marked 
with traces of the ordeal he had passed. Bruld then 
told him his story. 

He had gone, as already mentioned, with twelve 
Indians, to hasten the march of the allies, who were 
to join the Hurons before the hostile town. Crossing 
Lake Ontario, the party pushed onward with all 
speed, avoiding trails, threading the thickest forests 
and darkest swamps, for it was the land of the fierce 
and watchful Iroquois. They were well advanced 
on their way when they saw a small party of them 
crossing a meadow, set upon them, surprised them, 
killed four, and took two prisoners, v/hom they led 
to Carantouan, — a palisaded town with a population 
of eight hundred warriors, or about four thousand 
souls. The dwellings and defences were like those 
of the Hurons, and the town seems to have stood on 
or near the upper waters of the Susquehanna. They 
were welcomed with feasts, dances, and an uproar of 
rejoicing. The five hundred warriors prepared to 
depart; but, engrossed by the general festivity, they 
prepared so slowly, that, though the hostile town was 
but three days distant, they found on reaching it that 
the besiegers were gone. Brul^ now returned with 
them to Carantouan, and, with enterprise worthy of 
his commander, spent the winter in a tour of explora- 



418 THE GREAT WAR PARTY. [1616. 

tion. Descending a river, evidently the Susquehanna, 
he followed it to its junction with the sea, through 
territories of populous tribes, at war the one with 
the other. When, in the spring, he returned to 
Carantouan, five or six of the Indians offered to 
guide him towards his countrpnen. Less fortunate 
than before, he encountered on the way a band of 
Iroquois, who, rushing upon the party, scattered them 
through the woods. Brul^ ran like the rest. The 
cries of pursuers and pursued died away in the dis- 
tance. The forest was silent around him. He was 
lost in the shady labyrinth. For three or four days 
he wandered, helpless and famished, till at length he 
found an Indian foot-path, and, choosing between 
starvation and the Iroquois, desperately followed it 
to throw himself on their mercy. He soon saw three 
Indians in the distance, laden with fish newly caught, 
and called to them in the Huron tongue, which was 
radically similar to that of the Iroquois. They stood 
amazed, then turned to fly; but Brul^, gaunt with 
famine, flung down his weapons in token of friend- 
ship. They now drew near, listened to the story of 
his distress, lighted their pipes, and smoked with 
him ; then guided him to their village, and gave him 
food. 

A crowd gathered about him. "Whence do you 
come ? Are you not one of the Frenchmen, the men 
of iron, who make war on us ? " 

Bruld answered that he was of a nation better than 
the French, and fast friends of the Iroquois, 



1616.] ]^TIENNE BRUL^. 419 

His incredulous captors tied him to a tree, tore out 
his beard by handfuls, and burned him with fire- 
brands, while their chief vahily interposed in his 
behalf. He was a good Catholic, and wore an Agnus 
Dei at his breast. One of his torturers asked what it 
was, and thrust out his hand to take it. 

"If you touch it," exclaimed Bruld, "you and all 
your race will die." 

The Indian persisted. The day was hot, and one 
of those thunder-gusts which often succeed the fierce 
heats of an American midsummer was rising against 
the sky. Bruld pointed to the inky clouds as tokens 
of the anger of his God. The storm broke, and, as 
the celestial artillery boomed over their darkening 
forests, the Iroquois were stricken with a superstitious 
terror. They all fled from the spot, leaving their 
victim still bound fast, until the chief who had 
endeavored to protect him returned, cut the cords, 
led him to his lodge, and dressed his wounds. 
Thenceforth there was neither dance nor feast to 
which Brule was not invited ; and when he wished to 
return to his countrymen, a party of Iroquois guided 
him four days on his way. He reached the friendly 
Hurons in safety, and joined them on their yearly 
descent to meet the French traders at Montreal.^ 

1 The story of ^tienne Brnl6, whose name maj possibly allude to 
the fiery ordeal through which he had passed, is in Champlain's narra- 
tive of his voyage of 1618. It will be found in the edition of 1627, but 
is omitted in the condensed edition of 1632. It is also told by Sagard. 

Brule met a lamentable fate. In 1632 he was treacherously mur- 
dered by Hurons at one of their villages near Penetanguishine. 



420 THE GREAT WAR PARTY. [1615. 

Brule's adventures find in some points their coun- 
terpart in those of his commander on the winter 
hunting-grounds of his Huron allies. As we turn 
the ancient, worm-eaten page which preserves the 
simple record of his fortunes, a wild and dreary scene 
rises before the mind, — a chill November air, a 
murky sky, a cold lake, bare and shivering forests, 
the earth strewn with crisp brown leaves, and, by 
the water-side, the bark sheds and smoking camp-fires 
of a band of Indian hunters. Champlain was of the 
party. There was ample occupation for his gun, for 
the morning was vocal with the clamor of wild-fowl, 
and his evening meal was enlivened by the rueful 
music of the wolves. It was a lake north or north- 
west of the site of Kingston. On the borders of a 
neighboring river, twenty-five of the Indians had 
been busied ten days in preparing for their annual 
deer-hunt. They planted posts interlaced with boughs 
in two straight converging lines, each extending more 
than half a mile through forests and swamps. At 
the angle where they met was made a strong enclosure 
like a pound. At dawn of day the hunters spread 
themselves through the woods, and advanced with 
shouts, clattering of sticks, and bowlings like those 

Several years after, when the Hurou country was ravaged and half 
depopulated by an epidemic, the Indians believed that it was caused 
by the French in revenge for his death, and a renowned sorcerer averrod 
that he had seen a sister of the murdered man flying over their coun- 
try, breathing forth pestilence and death. Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 
34; Breheni, Relation des Hurons, 1635, 28; 1637, 160, 167 (Quebec, 
1858). 



1615.] CHAMPLAIN LOST IN THE WOODS. 421 

of wolves, driving the deer before them into the 
enclosure, where others lay in wait to despatch them 
with arrows and spears. 

Champlain was in the woods with the rest, when 
he saw a bird whose novel appearance excited his 
attention; and, gun in hand, he went in pursuit. 
The bird, flitting from tree to tree, lured him deeper 
and deeper into the forest; then took wing and 
vanished. The disappointed sportsman tried to 
retrace his steps. But the day was clouded, and he 
had left his pocket-compass at the camp. The forest 
closed around him, trees mingled with trees in end- 
less confusion. Bewildered and lost, he wandered 
all day, and at night slept fasting at the foot of a 
tree. Awaking, he wandered on till afternoon, when 
he reached a pond slumbering in the shadow of the 
woods. There were water-fowl along its brink, some 
of which he shot, and for the first time found food to 
allay his hunger. He kindled a fire, cooked his 
game, and, exhausted, blanketless, drenched by a 
cold rain, made his prayer to Heaven, and again lay 
down to sleep. Another day of blind and weary 
wandering succeeded, and another night of exhaus- 
tion. He had found paths in the wilderness, but 
they were not made by human feet. Once more 
roused from his shivering repose, he journeyed on 
till he heard the tinkling of a little brook, and 
bethought him of following its guidance, in the hope 
that it might lead him to the river where the hunters 
were now encamped. With toilsome steps he followed 



422 THE GREAT WAR PARTY. [1615. 

the infant stream, now ]ost beneath the decaymg 
masses of fallen trunks or the impervious intricacies 
of matted "windfalls," now stealing through swampy 
thickets or gurgling in the shade of rocks, till it 
entered at length, not into the river, but into a small 
lake. Circling around the brink, he found the point 
where the brook ran out and resumed its course. 
Listening in the dead stillness of the woods, a dull, 
hoarse sound rose upon his ear. He went forward, 
listened again, and could plainly hear the plunge of 
waters. There was light in the forest before him, 
and, thrusting himself through the entanglement of 
bushes, he stood on the edge of a meadow. Wild 
animals were here of various kinds; some skulking 
in the bordering thickets, some browsing on the dry 
and matted grass. On his right rolled the river, 
wide and turbulent, and along its bank he saw the 
portage path by which the Indians passed the neigh- 
boring rapids. He gazed about him. The rocky 
hills seemed familiar to his eye. A clew was found 
at last; and, kindling his evening fire, with grateful 
heart he broke a long fast on the game he had killed. 
With the break of day he descended at his ease along 
the bank, and soon descried the smoke of the Indian 
fires curling in the heavy morning air against the gray 
borders of the forest. The joy was great on both 
sides. The Indians had searched for him without 
ceasing ; and from that day forth his host, Durantal, 
would never let him go into the forest alone. 

They were thirty-eight days encamped on this 



1616.] WINTER JOURNEYING. 423 

nameless river, and killed in that time a hundred 
and twenty deer. Hard frosts were needful to give 
them passage over the land of lakes and marshes that 
lay between them and the Huron towns. Therefore 
they lay waiting till the fourth of December; when 
the frost came, bridged the lakes and streams, and 
made the oozy marsh as firm as granite. Snow fol- 
lowed, powdering the broad wastes with dreary white. 
Then they broke up their camp, packed their game 
on sledges or on their shoulders, tied on their snow- 
shoes, and began their march. Champlain could 
scarcely endure his load, though some of the Indians 
carried a weight fivefold greater. At night, they 
heard the cleaving ice uttering its strange groans of 
torment, and on the morrow there came a thaw. For 
four days they waded through slush and water up to 
their knees ; then came the shivering northwest wind, 
and all was hard again. In nineteen days they 
reached the town of Cahiague, and, lounging around 
their smoky lodge-fires, the hunters forgot the hard- 
ships of the past. 

For Champlam there was no rest. A double 
motive urged him, — discovery, and the strengthen- 
ing of his colony by widening its circle of trade. 
First, he repaired to Carhagouha; and here he found 
the friar, in his hermitage, still praying, preaching, 
making catechisms, and struggling with the manifold 
difficulties of the Huron tongue. After spending 
several weeks together, they began their journeyings, 
and in three days reached the chief village of the 



424 THE GREAT WAR PARTY. [1616 

Nation of Tobacco, a powerful tribe akin to the 
Hurons, and soon to be incorporated with tbem.i 
The travellers visited seven of their towns, and then 
passed westward to those of the people whom 
Champlain calls the Cheveux Beleves^ and whom he 
commends for neatness and ingenuity no less than he 
condemns them for the nullity of their summer 
attire. 2 As the strangers passed from town to town, 
their arrival was everywhere the signal of festivity. 
Champlain exchanged pledges of amity with his 
hosts, and urged them to come down with the Hurons 
to the yearly trade at Montreal. 

Spring was now advancing, and, anxious for his 
colony, he turned homeward, following that long 
circuit of Lake Huron and the Ottawa which Iroquois 
hostility made the only practicable route. Scarcely 
had he reached the Nipissings, and gained from them 
a pledge to guide him to that delusive northern sea 
which never ceased to possess his thoughts, when 
evil news called him back in haste to the Huron 
towns. A band of those Algonquins who dwelt on 
the great island in the Ottawa had spent the winter 
encamped near Cahiagu^, whose inhabitants made 
them a present of an Iroquois prisoner, with the 
friendly intention that they should enjoy the pleasure 
of torturing him. The Algonquins, on the contrary, 
fed, clothed, and adopted him. On this, the donors, 

1 The Dionondadies, Petuneux, or Nation of Tobacco, had till re- 
cently, according to Lalemant, been at war with the Hurons. 

2 See ante, p. 404. 



1616.] CHAMPLAIN MADE UMPIRE. 425 

in a rage, sent a warrior to kill the Iroquois. He 
stabbed him, accordingly, in the midst of the 
Algonquin chiefs, who in requital killed the mur- 
derer. Here was a casus belli involving most serious 
issues for the French, since the Algonquins, by their 
position on the Ottawa, could cut off the Hurons and 
all their allies from coming down to trade. Already 
a fight had taken place at Cahiague; the principal 
Algonquin chief had been wounded, and his band 
forced to purchase safety by a heavy tribute of wam- 
pum ^ and a gift of two female prisoners. 

All eyes turned to Champlain as umpire of the 
quarrel. The great council-house was filled with 
Huron and Algonquin chiefs, smoking with that 
immobility of feature beneath which their race often 
hide a more than tiger-like ferocity. The umpire 
addressed the assembly, enlarged on the folly of fall- 
ing to blows between themselves when the common 
enemy stood ready to devour them both, extolled the 
advantages of the French trade and alliance, and, 
with zeal not wholly disinterested, urged them to 
shake hands like brothers. The friendly counsel was 
accepted, the pipe of peace was smoked, the storm 
dispelled, and the commerce of New France rescued 
from a serious peril. 2 

1 Wampum was a sort of beads, of several colors, made originally by 
the Indians from the inner portion of certain shells, and afterwards by 
the French of porcelain and glass. It served a treble purpose, — that 
of currency, decoration, and record. Wrought into belts of various 
devices, each having its significance, it preserved the substance of trea- 
ties and compacts from generation to generation. 

2 Champlain (1G27), 63-72. 



426 THE GREAT WAR PARTY. [161G. 

Once more Champlain turned homeward, and with 
him went his Huron host, Durantal. Le Caron had 
preceded him; and, on the eleventh of July, the 
fellow-travellers met again in the infant capital of 
Canada. The Indians had reported that Champlain 
was dead, and he was welcomed as one risen from 
the grave. The friars, who were all here, chanted 
lauds in their chapel, with a solemn mass and thanks- 
giving. To the two travellers, fresh from the hard- 
ships of the wilderness, the hospitable board of 
Quebec, the kindly society of countrymen and friends, 
the adjacent gardens, — always to Champlain an 
object of especial interest, — seemed like the comforts 
and repose of home. 

The chief Durantal found entertainment worthy of 
his high estate. The fort, the ship, the armor, the 
plumes, the cannon, the marvellous architecture of 
the houses and barracks, the splendors of the chapel, 
and above all the good cheer outran the boldest 
excursion of his fancy ; and he paddled back at last 
to his lodge in the woods, bewildered with astonish- 
ment and admiration. 



CHAPTER XV. 

1616-1627. 

HOSTILE SECTS. — RIVAL INTERESTS. 

Quebec. — Tadoussac. — Embareassments of Champlain. — Mont- 
morency. — Madame de Champlain. — Disorder and Danger. 
— The Due de Ventadour. — The Jesuits. — Catholics and 
Heretics. — Richelieu. — The Hundred Associates. 

At Quebec the signs of growth were faint and few. 
By the water-side, under the cliff, the so-called 
" habitation, " built in haste eight years before, was 
already tottering, and Champlain was forced to 
rebuild it. On the verge of the rock above, where 
now are seen the buttresses of the demolished castle 
of St. Louis, he began, in 1620, a fort, behind which 
were fields and a few buildings. A mile or more 
distant, by the bank of the St. Charles, where the 
General Hospital now stands, the R^coUets, in the 
same year, built for themselves a small stone house, 
with ditches and outworks for defence; and here 
they began a farm, the stock consisting of several 
hogs, a pair of asses, a pair of geese, seven pairs of 
fowls, and four pairs of ducks. ^ The only other 

^ Lettre du P, Denis Jamet, 15 Aout, 1620, in Sagard, Histoire du 
Canada, 58. 



428 HOSTILE SECTS.— RIVAL INTERESTS. [1616. 

agriculturist in the colony was Louis Hubert, who 
had come to Canada in 1617 with a wife and three 
children, and who made a house for himself on the 
rock, at a little distance from Champlain's fort. 

Besides Quebec, there were the three trading- 
stations of Montreal, Three Rivers, and Tadoussac, 
occupied during a part of the year. Of these, 
Tadoussac was still the most important. Landing 
here from France in 1617, the Rdcollet Paul Huet 
said mass for the first time in a chapel built of 
branches, while two sailoi-s standing beside him 
waved green boughs to drive off the mosquitoes. 
Thither afterward came Brother Gervais Mohier, 
newly arrived in Canada; and meeting a crowd of 
Indians in festal attire, he was frightened at first, 
suspecting that they might be demons. Being invited 
by them to a feast, and told that he must not decline, 
he took his place among a party of two hundred, 
squatted about four large kettles full of fish, beards 
meat, pease, and plums, mixed with figs, raisins, and 
biscuit procured at great cost from the traders, the 
whole boiled together and well stirred with a canoe- 
paddle. As the guest did no honor to the portion 
set before him, his entertainers tried to tempt his 
appetite with a large lump of bear's fat, a supreme 
luxury in their eyes. This only increased his embar- 
rassment, and he took a hasty leave, uttering the 
ejaculation, "Ho, ho, hoi" which, as he had been 
correctly informed, was the proper mode of acknowl- 
edgment to the master of the feast. 



1616.] EMBARRASSMENTS OP CHAMPLAIN. 429 

A change had now begun in the life of Champlain. 
His forest rovings were over. To battle with savages 
and the elements was more congenial with his nature 
than to nurse a puny colony into growth and strength ; 
yet to each task he gave himself with the same strong 
devotion. 

His difficulties were great. Quebec was half trad- 
ing-factory, half mission. Its permanent inmates did 
not exceed fifty or sixty persons, — fur-traders, friars, 
and two or three wretched families, who had no 
inducement, and little wish, to labor. The fort is 
facetiously represented as having two old women 
for garrison, and a brace of hens for sentinels. ^ All 
was discord and disorder. Champlain was the 
nominal commander; but the actual authority was 
with the merchants, who held, excepting the friars, 
nearly everybody in their pay. Each was jealous of 
the other, but all were united in a common jealousy 
of Champlain. The few families whom they brought 
over were forbidden to trade with the Indians, and 
compelled to sell the fruits of their labor to the 
agents of the company at a low, fixed price, receiving 
goods in return at an inordinate valuation. Some of 
the merchants were of Rouen, some of St. Malo; 
some were Catholics, some were Huguenots. Hence 
unceasing biokerings. All exercise of the Reformed 
religion, on land or water, was prohibited within the 
limits of New France; but the Huguenots set the 
prohibition at naught, roaring their heretical psalmody 

^ Advis au Roy sur les Affaires de la Nouvelle France, 7. 



430 HOSTILE SECTS. — RIVAL INTERESTS. [1616. 

with such vigor from their ships in the river that the 
unhallowed strains polluted the ears of the Indians 
on shore. The merchants of Rochelle, who had 
refused to join the company, carried on a bold illicit 
traffic along the borders of the St. Lawrence, endan- 
gering the colony by selling fire-arms to the Indians, 
eluding pursuit, or, if hard pressed, showing fight; 
and this was a source of perpetual irritation to the 
incensed monopolists.^ 

The colpny could not increase. The company of 
merchants, though pledged to promote its growth, 
did what they could to prevent it. They were fur- 
traders, and the interests of the fur-trade are always 
opposed to those of settlement and population. They 
feared, too, and with reason, that their monopoly 
might be suddenly revoked, like that of De Monts, 
and they thought only of making profit from it while 
it lasted. They had no permanent stake in the 
country; nor had the men in their employ, who 
formed nearly all the scanty population of Canada. 
Few, if any, of these had brought wives to the colony, 
and none of them thought of cultivating the soil. 
They formed a floating population, kept from starv- 
ing by yearly supplies from France. 

Champlain, in his singularly trying position, dis- 
played a mingled zeal and fortitude. He went every 



1 Champlain, 1627 and 1632, passim; Sagard, Hist, du Canada^ 
passim ; Le Clerc, ^tahlissement de la Foy, cc. 4-7 ; Advis au Roy sur 
les Affaires de la Nouvelle France ; Decret de Prise de Corps d'Hebert; 
Plainie de la Nouvelle France a la France sa Germaine, passim. 



1620.] MADAME DE CHAMPLAIK 431 

year to France, laboring for the interests of the colony. 
To throw open the trade to all competitors was a 
measure beyond the wisdom of the times; and he 
hoped only to bind and regulate the monopoly so as 
to make it subserve the generous purpose to which he 
had given himself. The imprisonment of Cond^ was 
a source of fresh embarrassment; but the young Due 
de Montmorency assumed his place, purchasing from 
him the profitable lieutenancy of New France for 
eleven thousand crowns, and continuing Champlain 
in command. Champlain had succeeded in binding 
the company of merchants with new and more 
stringent engagements; and, in the vain belief that 
these might not be wholly broken, he began to con- 
ceive fresh hopes for the colony. In this faith he 
embarked with his wife for Quebec in the spring of 
1620 ; and, as the boat drew near the landing, the 
cannon welcomed her to the rock of her banishment. 
The buildings were falling to ruin; rain entered on 
all sides; the courtyard, says Champlain, was as 
squalid and dilapidated as a grange pillaged by 
soldiers. Madame de Champlain was still very 
young. If the Ursuline tradition is to be trusted, 
the Indians, amazed at her beauty and touched by 
her gentleness, would have worshipped her as a 
divinity. Her husband had married her at the age 
of twelve;^ when, to his horror, he presently dis- 
covered that she was infected with the heresies of her 

1 Contrat de Manage de Samuel de Champlain, 27 Dec, 1610. 
Charavay, Documents Inedits sur Samuel de Champlain. 



482 HOSTILE SECTS. — RIVAL INTERESTS. [1620. 

father, a disguised Huguenot. He addressed himself 
at once to her conversion, and his pious efforts were 
something more than successfuL During the four 
years which she passed in Canada, her zeal, it is true, 
was chiefly exercised in admonishing Indian squaws 
and catechising their children ; but, on her return to 
France, nothing would content her but to become a 
nun. Champlain refused ; but, as she was childless, 
he at length consented to a virtual though not formal 
separation. After his death she gained her wish, 
became an Ursuline nun, founded a convent of that 
order at Meaux, and died with a reputation almost 
saintly.^ 

At Quebec, matters grew from bad to worse. The 
few emigrants, with no inducement to labor, fell into 
a lazy apathy, lounging about the trading-houses, 
gaming, drinking when drink could be had, or roving 
into the woods on vagabond hunting excursions. 
The Indians could not be trusted. In the year 1617 
they had murdered two men near the end of the 
Island of Orleans. Frightened at what they had 
done, and incited perhaps by other causes, the 
Montagnais and their kindred bands mustered at 
Three Rivers to the number of eight hundred, 
resolved to destroy the French. The secret was 
betrayed; and the childish multitude, naked and 
famishing, became suppliants to their intended victims 
for the means of life. The French, themselves at 

1 Extraits des Chroniques de I'Ordre des Ursulines, Journal de Quebec^ 
10 Mars, 1855, 



1620-1621.] A NEW MONOPOLY. 433 

the point of starvation, could give little or nothing. 
An enemy far more formidable awaited them; and 
now were seen the fruits of Champlain's iutermea- 
dling in Indian wars. In the summer of 1622, the 
Iroquois descended upon the settlement. A strong 
party of their warriors hovered about Quebec, but, 
still fearful of the arquebuse, forbore to attack it, 
and assailed the R^coUet convent on the St. Charles. 
The prudent friars had fortified themselves. While 
some prayed in the chapel, the rest, with their Indian 
converts, manned the walls. The Iroquois respected 
their palisades and demi-lunes, and withdrew, after 
burning two Huron prisoners. 

Yielding at length to reiterated complaints, the 
Viceroy Montmorency suppressed the company of St. 
Malo and Rouen, and conferred the trade of New 
France, burdened with similar conditions destined to 
be similarly broken, on two Huguenots, William and 
Emery de Caen.^ The change was a signal for fresh 
disorders. The enraged monopolists refused to yield. 
The rival traders filled Quebec with their quarrels ; 
and Champlain, seeing his authority set at naught, 
was forced to occupy his newly built fort with a band 
of armed followers. The evil rose to such a pitch 
that he joined with the R^collets and the better- 
disposed among the colonists in sending one of the 
friars to lay their grievances before the King. The 
dispute was compromised by a temporary union of 

1 Lettre de Montmorency a Champlain, 2 Fevi^ier, 1621 ; Paris Docu* 
ments in archives of Massachusetts. I. 493. 



434 HOSTILE SECTS. — RIVAL INTERESTS. [1625. 

the two companies, together with a variety of arrets 
and regulations, suited, it was thought, to restore 
tranquillity.^ 

A new change was at hand. Montmorency, tired 
of his viceroyalty, which gave him ceaseless annoy- 
ance, sold it to his nephew, Henri de L^vis, Due 
de Ventadour. It was no worldly motive which 
prompted this young nobleman to assume the burden 
of fostering the infancy of New France. He had 
retired from the court, and entered into holy orders. 
For trade and colonization he cared nothing; the 
conversion of infidels was his sole care. The Jesuits 
had the keeping of his conscience, and in his eyes 
they were the most fitting instruments for his pur- 
pose. The RecoUets, it is true, had labored with an 
unflagging devotion. The six friars of their Order 
— for this was the number which the Calvinist Caen 
had bound himself to support — had established five 
distinct missions, extending from Acadia to the 
borders of Lake Huron; but the field was too vast 
for their powers. Ostensibly by a spontaneous move- 
ment of their own, but in reality, it is probable, 
under influences brought to bear on them from with- 
out, the Recollets applied for the assistance of the 
Jesuits, who, strong in resources as in energy, would 
not be compelled to rest on the reluctant support of 
Huguenots. Three of their brotherhood — Charles 

1 Le Roy a Champlain, 20 Mars, 1622 ; Champlain (1632, Seconde 
Partie), Livre I. ; Le Clerc, J^tablissement de la Foy, c. 6 ; Sagard, 
Histoire du Canada, Livre I. c. 7. 



1626.] ARRIVAL OF JESUITS. 435 

Lalemant, Enemond Masse, and Jean de Br^beuf — 
accordingly embarked; and, fourteen years after 
Biard and Masse had landed in Acadia, Canada 
beheld for the first time those whose names stand so 
prominent in her annals, — the mysterious followers 
of Loyola. Their reception was most inauspicious. 
Champlain was absent. Caen would not lodge them 
in the fort; the traders would not admit them to 
their houses. Nothing seemed left for them but to 
return as they came; when a boat, bearing several 
R^coUets, approached the ship to proffer them the 
hospitalities of the convent on the St. Charles. ^ 
They accepted the proffer, and became guests of the 
charitable friars, who nevertheless entertained a 
lurking jealousy of these formidable co-workers. 

The Jesuits soon unearthed and publicly burnt a 
libel against their Order belonging to some of the 
traders. Their strength was soon increased. The 
Fathers Noirot and De la None landed, with twenty 
laborers, and the Jesuits were no longer houseless. ^ 
Br^beuf set forth for the arduous mission of the 
Hurons ; but on arriving at Trois Rivieres he learned 
that one of his Franciscan predecessors, Nicolas Yiel, 
had recently been drowned by Indians of that tribe, 

1 Le Clerc, J^tabh'ssement de la Foy, I. 310; Lalemant a Champlain, 
28 Juillet, 1625, in Le Clerc, I. 313; Lalemant, Relation, 1625, in 
Mercure Frangais, XIII. 

2 Lalemant, in a letter dated 1 August, 1626, says that at that time 
there were only forty-three Frenchmen at Quebec. The Jesuits em- 
ployed themselves in confessing them, preaching two sermons a month, 
studying the Indian languages, and cultivating the ground, as a prep- 
aration for more arduous work. See Carayon, Premiere Mission, 117. 



436 HOSTILE SECTS. — RIVAL INTERESTS. [1626. 

in the rapid behind Montreal, known to this day as 
the Saut au Recollet. Less ambitions for martyrdom 
than he afterwards approved himself, he postponed 
his voyage to a more auspicious season. In the fol- 
lowing spring he renewed the attempt, in company 
with De la None and one of the friars. The Indians, 
however, refused to receive him into their canoes, 
alleging that his tall and portly frame would overset 
them ; and it was only by dint of many presents that 
their pretended scruples could be conquered. Brebeuf 
embarked with his companions, and, after months of 
toil, reached the barbarous scene of his labors, his 
sufferings, and his death. 

Meanwhile the Viceroy had been deeply scandalized 
by the contumacious heresy of ilmery de Caen, who 
not only assembled his Huguenot sailors at prayers, 
but forced Catholics to join them. He was ordered 
thenceforth to prohibit his crews from all praying and 
psalm-singing on the river St. Lawrence. The crews 
revolted, and a compromise was made. It was agreed 
that for the present they might pray, but not sing.i 
"A bad bargain," says the pious Champlain, "but 
we made the best of it we could." Caen, enraged at 
the Viceroy's reproofs, lost no opportunity to vent 
his spleen against the Jesuits, whom he cordially 
hated. 

Eighteen years had passed since the founding of 

1 ". . . en fin, fut accordequ'ilsne chanteroient point les Pseaumes, 
mais qu'ils s'assembleroient pour faire leur prieres." Champlain (1632, 
Seconde Partie), 108. 



1620.] A RIVAL COLONY. 437 

Quebec, and still the colony could scarcely be said 
to exist but in the founder's brain. Those who 
should have been its support were engrossed by trade 
or propagandism. Champlain might look back on 
fruitless toils, hopes deferred, a life spent seemingly 
in vain. The population of Quebec had risen to a 
hundred and five persons, men, women, and children. 
Of these, one or two families only had learned to 
support themselves from the products of the soil. 
All withered under the monopoly of the Caens.^ 
Champlain had long desired to rebuild the fort, which 
was weak and ruinous ; but the merchants would not 
grant the men and means which, by their charter, 
they were bound to furnish. At length, however, 
his urgency in part prevailed, and the work began to 
advance. Meanwhile the Caens and their associates 
had greatly prospered, paying, it is said, an annual 
dividend of forty per cent. In a single year they 
brought from Canada twenty-two thousand beaver- 
skins, though the usual number did not exceed twelve 
or fifteen thousand. ^ 

While infant Canada was thus struggling into a 
haK-stifled being, the foundation of a commonwealth 
destined to a marvellous vigor of development had 
been laid on the Rock of Plymouth. In their char- 
acter, as in their destiny, the rivals were widely 
different; yet, at the outset. New England was unfaith- 

1 Advis ail Roy, passim ; Plainte de la Nouvelle France. 

2 Lalemant, Relation, 1625, in Mercure Fran^ais, XIII. The skins 
Bold at a pistole each. The Caens employed forty men and upwards 
in Canada, besides a hundred and fifty in their ships. 



438 HOSTILE SECTS. — RIVAL INTERESTS. [1627, 

ful to the principle of freedom. New England 
Protestantism appealed to Liberty, then closed the 
door against her; for all Protestantism is an appeal 
from priestly authority to the right of private judg- 
ment, and the New England Puritan, after claiming 
this right for himself, denied it to all who differed 
with him. On a stock of freedom he grafted a scion 
of despotism ; ^ yet the vital juices of the root pene- 
trated at last to the uttermost branches, and nourished 
them to an irrepressible strength and expansion. 
With New France it was otherwise. She was con- 

1 In Massachusetts, none but church-members could vote or hold 
office. In other words, the deputies to the General Court were deputies 
of churches, and the Governor and magistrates were church-members, 
elected by church-members. Church and State were not united : they 
were identified. A majority of the people, including men of wealth, 
ability, and character, were deprived of the rights of freemen because 
they were not church-members. When some of them petitioned the 
General Court for redress, they were imprisoned and heavily fined as 
guilty of sedition. Their sedition consisted in their proposing to 
appeal to Parliament, though it was then composed of Puritans. See 
Palfrey, History of New England, Vol. II. Ch. IV. 

The Ne\r England Puritans were foes, not only of episcopacy, but 
of presbytery. But under their system of separate and independent 
churches, it was impossible to enforce the desired uniformity of doc- 
trine. Therefore, while inveighing against English and Scottish pres- 
bytery, they established a virtual presbytery of their own. A distinction 
was made. The New England Synod could not coerce an erring church ; 
it could only advise and exhort. This was clearly insufficient, and, 
accordingly, in cases of heresy and schism, the civil power was invoked. 
That is to say, the churches in their ecclesiastical capacity consigned 
doctrinal offenders for punishment to the same churches acting in a 
civil capacity, while they professed an abomination of presbytery be- 
cause it endangered liberty of conscience. See A Platform of Church 
Discipline, galher'd out of the Word of God and agreed upon by the 
Elders and Messengers of the Churches assembled in the Synod at Cam- 
bridge, in New England, Ch. XVIL §§ 8, 9. 



1627.] RICHELIEU. 439 

sistent to the last. Root, stem, and branch, she was 
the nursling of authority. Deadly absolutism blighted 
her early and her later growth. Friars and Jesuits, 
a Yentadour and a Richelieu, shaped her destinies. 
All that conflicted against advancing liberty — the 
centralized power of the crown and the tiara, the 
ultramontane in religion, the despotic in policy — 
found their fullest expression and most fatal exercise. 
Her records shine with glorious deeds, the self-deyo- 
tion of heroes and of martyrs ; and the result of all is 
disorder, imbecility, ruin. 

The great champion of absolutism, Richelieu, was 
now supreme in France. His thin frame, pale cheek, 
and cold, calm eye, concealed an inexorable will and 
a mind of vast capacity, armed with all the resources 
of boldness and of craft. Under his potent agency, 
the royal power, in the weak hands of Louis the 
Thirteenth, waxed and strengthened daily, triumph- 
ing over the factions of the court, the turbulence of 
the Huguenots, the ambitious independence of the 
nobles, and all the elements of anarchy which, since 
the death of Henry the Fourth, had risen into fresh 
life. With no friends and a thousand enemies, 
disliked and feared by the pitiful King whom he 
served, making his tool by turns of every party and 
of every principle, he advanced by countless crooked 
paths towards his object, — the greatness of France 
under a concentrated and undivided authority. 

In the midst of more urgent cares, he addressed 
himself to fostering the commercial and naval power. 



440 HOSTILE SECTS.— RIVAL INTERESTS. [1627. 

Montmorency then held the ancient charge of Admiral 
of France. Richelieu bought it, suppressed it, and, 
in its stead, constituted himself Grand Master and 
Superintendent of Navigation and Commerce. In 
this new capacity, the mismanaged affairs of New 
France were not long concealed from him; and he 
applied a prompt and powerful remedy. The privi- 
leges of the Caens were annulled. A company was 
formed, to consist of a hundred associates, and to be 
called the Company of New France. Richelieu him- 
seK was the head, and the Mar^chal Deffiat and other 
men of rank, besides many merchants and burghers 
of condition, were members.^ The whole of New 
France, from Florida to the Arctic Circle, and from 
Newfoundland to the sources of the St. Lawrence 
and its tributary waters, was conferred on them for- 
ever, with the attributes of sovereign power. A per- 
petual monopoly of the fur-trade was granted them, 
with a monopoly of all other commerce within the 
limits of their government for fifteen j^ears.^ The 
trade of the colony was declared free, for the same 
period, from all duties and imposts. Nobles, officers, 
and ecclesiastics, members of the Company, might 
engage in commercial pursuits without derogating 
from the privileges of their order; and, in evidence 
of his good-will, the King gave them two ships of 
war, armed and equipped. 

1 No7ns, Surnoms, et Qualitez des Associez de la Compagnie de la 
Nouvelle France. 

2 The whale and the cod fishery were, however, to remain open 
to all. 



1627.] EXCLUSION OF HUGUENOTS. 441 

On their part, the Company were bound to convey- 
to New France during the next year, 1628, two or 
three hundred men of all trades, and before the year 
1643 to increase the number to four thousand persons,^ 
of both sexes ; to lodge and support them for three 
years; and, this time expired, to give them cleared 
lands for their maintenance. Every settler must be 
a Frenchman and a Catholic; and for every new 
settlement at least three ecclesiastics must be pro- 
vided. Thus was New France to be forever free 
from the taint of heresy. The stain of her infancy 
was to be wiped away. Against the foreigner and 
the Huguenot the door was closed and barred. Eng- 
land threw open her colonies to all who wished to 
enter, — to the suffering and oppressed, the bold, 
active, and enterprising. France shut out those who 
wished to come, and admitted only those who did 
not, — the favored class who clung to the old faith 
and had no motive or disposition to leave their homes. 
English colonization obeyed a natural law, and sailed 
with wind and tide; French colonization spent its 
whole struggling existence in futile efforts to make 
head against them. The English colonist developed 
inherited freedom on a virgin soil ; the French colonist 
was pursued across the Atlantic by a paternal despot- 
ism better in intention and more withering in effect 

^ Charlevoix erroneously says sixteen thousand. Compare Acte 
pour I'J^tablissement de la Compagnie des Cent Associes, in Mercure 
Frangais, XIV. Partie II. 232 ; Edits et Ordonnances, I. 5. The act of 
establishment was originally published in a small duodecimo volume, 
which differs, though not very essentially, from the copy in the Mercure^ 



442 HOSTILE SECTS. — RIVAL INTERESTS. [1627. 

than that which he left behind. If, instead of exclud- 
ing Huguenots, France had given them an asylum in 
the west, and left them there to work out their own 
destinies, Canada would never have been a British 
province, and the United States would have shared 
their vast domain with a vigorous population of self- 
governing Frenchmen. 

A trading company was now feudal proprietor of 
all domains in North America within the claim of 
France. Fealty and homage on its part, and on the 
part of the Crown the appointment of supreme judi- 
cial officers, and the confirmation of the titles of 
dukes, marquises, counts, and barons, were the only 
reservations. The King heaped favors on the new 
corporation. Twelve of the bourgeois members were 
ennobled; while artisans and even manufacturers 
were tempted, by extraordinary privileges, to emi- 
grate to the New World. The associates, of whom 
Champlain was one, entered upon their functions 
with a capital of three hundred thousand livres.^ 

1 Articles et Conventions de Societe et Compagnie, in Mercure Fran- 
gais, XIV. Partie II. 250. 



CHAPTER XYL 

1628, 1629. 

THE ENGLISH AT QUEBEC. 

Revolt of Rochelle. — War with England. — The English on 
THE St. Lawrence. — Bold Attitude op Champlain. — The 
French Squadron destroyed. — Famine. — Return of thh 
English. — Quebec surrendered. — Another Naval Battle. 
— Michel. — Champlain at London. 

The first care of the new Company was to succor 
Quebec, whose inmates were on the verge of starva- 
tion. Four armed vessels, with a fleet of transports 
commanded by Roquemont, one of the associates, 
sailed from Dieppe with colonists and supplies in 
April, 1628; but nearly at the same time another 
squadron, destined also for Quebec, was sailing from 
an English port. War had at length broken out in 
France. The Huguenot revolt had come to a head. 
Rochelle was in arms against the King ; and Richelieu, 
with his royal ward, was beleaguering it with the 
whole strength of the kingdom. Charles the First 
of England, urged by the heated passions of Bucking- 
ham, had declared himself for the rebels, and sent a 
fleet to their aid. At home, Charles detested the 
followers of Calvin as dangerous to his own author- 



444 THE ENGLISH AT QUEBEC. [1628. 

ity; abroad, he befriended them as dangerous to the 
authority of a rival. In France, Richelieu crushed 
Protestantism as a curb to the house of Bourbon; in 
Germany, he nursed and strengthened it as a curb to 
the house of Austria. 

The attempts of Sir William Alexander to colonize 
Acadia had of late turned attention in England 
towards the New World ; and on the breaking out of 
the war an expedition was set on foot, under the 
auspices of that singular personage, to seize on the 
French possessions in North America. It was a 
private enterprise, undertaken by London merchants, 
prominent among whom was Gervase Kirke, an 
Englishman of Derbyshire, who had long lived at 
Dieppe, and had there married a Frenchwoman. ^ 
Gervase Kirke and his associates fitted out three 
small armed ships, commanded respectively by his 
sons David, Lewis, and Thomas. Letters of marque 
were obtained from the King, and the adventurers 
were authorized to drive out the French from Acadia 
and Canada. Many Huguenot refugees were among 
the crews. Having been expelled from New France 
as settlers, the persecuted sect were returning as 
enemies. One Captain Michel, who had been in the 
service of the Caens, "a furious Calvinist,"^ is said to 
have instigated the attempt, acting, it is affirmed, 
under the influence of one of his former employers. 

1 Henry Kirke, F/?-s< English Conquest of Canada (1871), 27, 28, 
206-208. David Kirke was knighted in Scotland. Hence he ia said 
to have been Scotch by descent. 

2 Charlevoix, I. 171. 



1628.J ATTACK AT CAPE TOURMENTE. 445 

. Meanwhile the famished tenants of Quebec were 
eagerly waiting the expected succor. Daily they 
gazed beyond Point Levi and along the channels of 
Orleans, in the vain hope of seeing the approaching 
sails. At length, on the ninth of July, two men, 
worn with struggling through forests and over 
torrents, crossed the St. Charles and mounted the 
rock. They were from Cape Tourmente, where 
Champlain had some time before established an out- 
post, and they brought news that, according to the 
report of Indians, six large vessels lay in the harbor 
of Tadoussac.i The friar Le Caron was at Quebec, 
and, with a brother R^coUet, he went in a canoe to 
gain further intelligence. As the missionary scouts 
were paddling along the borders of the Island of 
Orleans, they met two canoes advancing in hot haste, 
manned by Indians, who with shouts and gestures 
warned them to turn back. 

The friars, however, waited till the canoes came 
up, when they saw a man lying disabled at the bottom 
of one of them, his moustaches burned by the flash of 
the musket which had wounded him. He proved to 
be Foucher, who commanded at Cape Tourmente. 
On that morning, — such was the story of the fugi- 
tives, — twenty men had landed at that post from a 
small fishing-vessel. Being to all appearance French, 
they were hospitably received; but no sooner had 
they entered the houses than they began to pillage 

1 Champlain (1632, Seconde Partie), 152. 



446 THE ENGLISH AT QUEBEC. [1628. 

and burn all before them, killing tbe cattle, wounding 
the commandant, and making several prisoners. ^ 

The character of the fleet at Tadoussac was now 
sufficiently clear. Quebec was incapable of defence. 
Only fifty pounds of gunpowder were left in the 
magazine ; and the fort, owing to the neglect and ill- 
will of the Caens, was so wretchedly constructed, 
that, a few days before, two towers of the main 
building had fallen. Champlain, however, assigned 
to each man his post, and waited the result. ^ On 
the next afternoon, a boat was seen issuing from 
behind the Point of Orleans and hovering hesitatingly 
about the mouth of the St. Charles. On being chal- 
lenged, the men on board proved to be Basque fisher- 
men, lately captured by the English, and now sent 
by Kirke unwilling messengers to Champlain. Climb- 
ing the steep pathway to the fort, they delivered their 
letter, — a summons, couched in terms of great 
courtesy, to surrender Quebec. There was no hope 
but in courage. A bold front must supply the lack 
of batteries and ramparts; and Champlain dismissed 
the Basques with a reply, in which, with equal cour- 
tesy, he expressed his determination to hold his 
position to the last.^ 

All now stood on the watch, hourly expecting the 
enemy; when, instead of the hostile squadron, a 
small boat crept into sight, and one Desdames, with 
ten Frenchmen, landed at the storehouses. He 

1 Sagard, 919. 2 iq July, 1628. 

8 Sagard, 922; Champlain (1632, Seconde Partie), 157. 



1629.] FAMINE. 447 

brought stirring news. The French commander, 
Roquemont, had despatched him to tell Champlain 
that the ships of the Hundred Associates were ascend- 
ing the St. Lawrence, with reinforcements and sup- 
plies of all kinds. But on his way Desdames had 
seen an ominous sight, — the English squadron stand- 
ing under full sail out of Tadoussac, and steering 
downwards as if to intercept the advancing succor. 
He had only escaped them by dragging his boat up 
the beach and hiding it; and scarcely were they out 
of sight when the booming of cannon told him that 
the fight was begun. 

Racked with suspense, the starving tenants of 
Quebec waited the result; but they waited in vain. 
No white sail moved athwart the green solitudes of 
Orleans. Neither friend nor foe appeared; and it 
was not till long afterward that Indians brought them 
the tidings that Roquemont's crowded transports had 
been overpowered, and all the supplies destined to 
relieve their miseries sunk in the St. Lawrence or 
seized by the victorious English. Kirke, however, 
deceived by the bold attitude of Champlain, had been 
too discreet to attack Quebec, and after his victory 
employed himself in cruising for French fishing- 
vessels along the borders of the Gulf. 

Meanwhile, the suffering at Quebec increased 
daily. Somewhat less than a hundred men, women, 
and children were cooped up in the fort, subsisting 
on a meagre pittance of pease and Indian corn. The 
garden of the Heberts, the only thrifty settlers, was 



448 THE EI^GLISH AT QUEBEC. [1629. 

ransacked for every root or seed that could afford 
nutriment. Months wore on, and in the spring the 
distress had risen to such a pitch that Champlain had 
wellnigh resolved to leave to the women, children, 
and sick the little food that remained, and with the 
able-bodied men invade the Iroquois, seize one of 
their villages, fortify himself in it, and sustain his 
followers on the' buried stores of maize with which 
the strongholds of these provident savages were 
always furnished. 

Seven ounces of pounded pease were now the daily 
food of each; and, at the end of May, even this 
failed. Men, women, and children betook them- 
selves to the woods, gathering acorns and grubbing 
up roots. Those of the plant called Solomon's seal 
were most in request.^ Some joined the Hurons or 
the Algonquins ; some wandered towards the Abenakis 
of Maine ; some descended in a boat to Gasp^, trust- 
ing to meet a French fishing-vessel. There was 
scarcely one who would not have hailed the English 
as deliverers. But the English had sailed home with 
their booty, and the season was so late that there was 
little prospect of their return. Forgotten alike by 
friends and foes, Quebec was on the verge of 
extinction. 

On the morning of the nineteenth of July, an 
Indian, renowned as a fisher of eels, who had built 
his hut on the St. Charles, hard by the new dwelling 
of the Jesuits, came, with his usual imperturbability 

1 Sagard, 977. 



1629.] QUEBEC SURRENDERED. 449 

of visage, to Champlain. He had just discovered 
three ships sailing up the south channel of Orleans. 
Champlain was alone. All his followers were absent, 
fishing or searching for roots. At about ten o'clock 
his servant appeared with four small bags of roots, 
and the tidings that he had seen the three ships a 
league off, behind Point Levi. As man after man 
hastened in, Champlain ordered the starved and 
ragged band, sixteen in all,^ to their posts, whence 
with hungry eyes, they watched the English vessels 
anchoring in the basin below, and a boat with a white 
flag moving towards the shore. A young officer 
landed with a summons to surrender. The terms of 
capitulation were at length settled. The French 
were to be conveyed to their own country, and each 
soldier was allowed to take with him his clothes, and, 
in addition, a coat of beaver-skin,^ On this some 
murmuring rose, several of those who had gone to 
the Hurons having lately returned with peltry of no 
small value. Their complaints were vain; and on 
the twentieth of July, amid the roar of cannon from 
the ships, Lewis Kirke, the Admiral's brother, landed 
at the head of his soldiers, and planted the cross of 
St. George where the followers of Wolfe again 
planted it a hundred and thirty years later. After 
inspecting the worthless fort, he repaired to the 
houses of the H^coUets and Jesuits on the St. 

1 Champlain (1632, S^conde Partie), 267. 

2 Articles granted to the Sieurs Champlain and Le Pont by Thomas 
Kearke, 19 July, 1629. 



450 THE ENGLISH AT QUEBEC. [1629. 

Charles. He treated the former with great courtesy, 
but displayed against the latter a violent aversion, 
expressing his regret that he could not have begun 
his operations by battering their house about their 
ears. The inhabitants had no cause to complain of 
him. He urged the widow and family of the settler 
Hebert, the patriarch, as he has been styled, of New 
France, to remain and enjoy the fruits of their industry 
under English allegiance ; and, as beggary in France 
was the alternative, his offer was accepted. 

Champlain, bereft of his command, grew restless, 
and begged to be sent to Tadoussac, where the 
Admiral, David Kirke, lay with his main squadron, 
having sent his brothers Lewis and Thomas to seize 
Quebec. Accordingly, Champlain, with the Jesuits, 
embarking with Thomas Kirke, descended the river. 
Off Mai Bay a strange sail was seen. As she 
approached, she proved to be a French ship. In fact, 
she was on her way to Quebec with supplies, which, 
if earlier sent, would have saved the place. She had 
passed the Admiral's squadron in a fog; but here her 
good fortune ceased. Thomas Kirke bore down on 
her, and the cannonade began. The fight was hot 
and doubtful; but at length the French struck, and 
Kirke sailed into Tadoussac with his prize. Here 
lay his brother, the Admiral, with five armed ships. 

The Admiral's two voyages to Canada were private 
ventures; and though he had captured nineteen 
fishing-vessels, besides Roquemont's eighteen trans- 
ports and other prizes, the result had not answered 



1629.] MICHEL AND THE JESUITS. 451 

his hopes. His mood, therefore, was far from benign, 
especially as he feared, that, owing to the declaration 
of peace, he would be forced to disgorge a part of his 
booty; yet, excepting the Jesuits, he treated his 
captives with courtesy, and often amused himself 
with shooting larks on shore in company with 
Champlain. The Huguenots, however, of whom 
there were many in his ships, showed an exceeding 
bitterness against the Catholics. Chief among them 
was Michel, who had instigated and conducted the 
enterprise, the merchant admiral being but an indif- 
ferent seaman. Michel, whose skill was great, held 
a high command and the title of Rear- Admiral. He 
was a man of a sensitive temperament, easily piqued 
on the point of honor. His morbid and irritable 
nerves were wrought to the pitch of frenzy by the 
reproaches of treachery and perfidy with which the 
French prisoners assailed him, while, on the other 
hand, he was in a state of continual rage at the 
fancied neglect and contumely of his English asso- 
ciates. He raved against Kirke, who, as he declared, 
treated him with an insupportable arrogance. "I 
have left my country," he exclaimed, "for the service 
of foreigners ; and they give me nothing but ingrati- 
tude and scorn.'* His fevered mind, acting on his 
diseased body, often excited him to transports of 
fury, in which he cursed indiscriminately the people 
of St. Malo, against whom he had a grudge, and the 
Jesuits, whom he detested. On one occasion, Kirke 
was conversing with some of the latter. 



452 THE ENGLISH AT QUEBEC. [1629. 

"Gentlemen," he said, "your business in Canada 
was to enjoy what belonged to M. de Caen, whom 
you dispossessed." 

"Pardon me, sir," answered Br^beuf, "we came 
p\irely for the glory of God, and exposed ourselves to 
every kind of danger to convert the Indians." 

Here Michel broke in: "Ay, ay, convert the 
Indians! You mean, convert the beaver!" 
, " That is false ! " retorted Br^beuf . 

Michel raised his fist, exclaiming, "But for the 
respect I owe the General, I would strike you for 
giving me the lie." 

Br^beuf, a man of powerful frame and vehement 
passions, nevertheless regained his practised self- 
command, and replied: "You must excuse me. I 
did not mean to give you the lie. I should be very 
sorry to do so. The words I used are those we use 
in the schools when a doubtful question is advanced, 
and they mean no offence. Therefore I ask you to 
pardon me." 

Despite the apology, Michel's frenzied brain harped 
on the presumed insult, and he raved about it with- 
out ceasing. 

''^ Bon Dieu!^^ said Champlain, "you swear well for 
a Reformer! " 

^*T know it," returned Michel; "I should be con- 
tent if I had but struck that Jesuit who gave me the 
lie before my General." 

At length, one of his transports of rage ended in a 
lethargy from which he never awoke. His funeral 



1629.] EXPLOIT OF DANIEL. 453 

was conducted with a pomp suited to his rank; and, 
amid discharges of cannon whose dreary roar was 
echoed from the yawning gulf of the Saguenay, his 
body was borne to its rest under the rocks of 
Tadoussac. Good Catholics and good Frenchmen 
saw in his fate the immediate finger of Providence. 
" I do not doubt that his soul is in perdition, " remarks 
Champlain, who, however, had endeavored to befriend 
the unfortunate man during the access of his frenzy. ^ 

Having finished their carousings, which were pro- 
fuse, and their trade with the Indians, which was not 
lucrative, the English steered down the St. Lawrence. 
Kirke feared greatly a meeting with Kazilly, a naval 
officer of distinction, 2 who was to have sailed from 
France with a strong force to succor Quebec; but, 
peace having been proclaimed, the expedition had 
been limited to two ships under Captain Daniel. 
Thus Kirke, wilfully ignoring the treaty of peace, 
was left to pursue his depredations unmolested. 
Daniel, however, though too weak to cope with him, 
achieved a signal exploit. On the island of Cape 
Breton, near the site of Louisburg, he found an 
English fort, built two months before, under the 
auspices, doubtless, of Sir William Alexander. 
Daniel, regarding it as a bold encroachment on 

1 Champlain (1632, Seconde Partie), 256: "Je ne doute point 
qu'eUe ne soit aux enfers." The dialogue above is literally translated. 
The Jesuits Le Jeune and Charlevoix tell the story with evident satis- 
faction. 

2 Claude de RazQly was one of three brothers, all distinguished in 
the marine service. 



454 THE ENGLISH AT QUEBEC. [1629. 

French territory, stormed it at the head of his pike- 
men, entered sword in hand, and took it with all its 
defenders.^ 

Meanwhile, Kirke with his prisoners was cross- 
ing the Atlantic. His squadron at length reached 
Plymouth, whence Champlain set out for London. 
Here he had an interview with the French ambas- 
sador, who, at his instance, gained from the King a 
promise, that, in pursuance of the terms of the treaty 
concluded in the previous April, New France should 
be restored to the French Crown. 

It long remained a mystery why Charles consented 
to a stipulation which pledged him to resign so impor- 
tant a conquest. The mystery is explained by the 
recent discovery of a letter from the King to Sir Isaac 
Wake, his ambassador at Paris. The promised dowry 
of Queen Henrietta Maria, amounting to eight hun- 
dred thousand crowns, had been but half paid by the 
French government, and Charles, then at issue with 
his Parliament, and in desperate need of money, 
instructs his ambassador, that, when he receives the 
balance due, and not before, he is to give up to the 
French both Quebec and Port Royal, which had also 
been captured by Kirke. The letter was accompanied 
by "solemn instruments under our hand and seal " to 
make good the transfer on fulfilment of the condition. 
It was for a sum equal to about two hundred and 

1 Relation du Voyage fait par le Capitaine Daniel ; Champlaiu (1632, 
Seconde Partie), 271. Captain Farrar, who commauded the fort, de- 
clares, however, that they were " treacherously surprised." Petition oj 
Captain Constance Fairar, Dec, 1629. 



1029.] MOTIVES OF CHARLES I. 455 

forty thousand dollars that Charles entailed on Great 
Britam and her colonies a century of bloody wars. 
The Kirkes and their associates, who had made the 
conquest at their own cost, under the royal author- 
ity, were never reimbursed, though David Kirke 
received the honor of knighthood, which cost the 
I\lQg nothing. 1 

1 Charles I. to Sir Isaac Wake, 12 June, 1631, printed in Brymner, 
Report on Canadian Archives, 1884, p. Ix. 

Before me is a copy of the original agreement for the restitution of 
Quebec and Port Eoyal, together with ships and goods taken after the 
peace. It is indorsed, Articles arrest€s entre les Deputes des Deux Cou- 
ronnes pour la Restitution des Choses qui out ete prinses depuis le Traicte 
de Paixfait entre elles ; 24 Avril, 1629. It was not till two years later 
that King Charles carried it into effect, on receiving the portion of the 
Queen. See also Lettres de Chateauneuf, Ambassadeur de France, au 
Cardinal de Richelieu, Nov., Dec, 1629, and Memorial of the French 
Ambassador to King Charles, Feb., 1630; Lord Dorchester to Sir Isaac 
Wake, 15 April, 1630; ExamAnation of Capt. David Kirke before Sir 
Henry Marten, 27 May C?), 1631 ; The King to Sir William Alexander, 
12 June, 1632 ; Extrait concernant ce qui s'est passe dans VAcadie et le 
Canada en 1627 et 1628 tire d'un Requete du Chevalier Loids Kirk, in 
Memoires des Commissaires, II. 275 ; Literce continentes Pi'omissionem 
Regis ad tradendum, etc., in Hazard, 1. 314 ; Traite de Paixfait a Siize, 
Ibid. 319 ; Reglemens entre les Roys de France et d'Angleterre in Mercure 
Frangais, XVIII. 39 ; Bushworth, II. 24 ; Traite entre le Roi Louis 
XIII. et Charles I., Roi d^Angleterre, pour la Restitution de la Nouvelle 
France, VAcadie, et Canada, 29 Mars, 1632. 

In the Archives des Affaires Etrangeres is a letter, not signed, but 
evidently written by Champlain, apparently on the 16th of October, 
the day of his arrival in England. It gives a few details not in his 
printed narrative. It states that Lewis Kirke took two silver chalices 
from a chest of the Jesuits, on which the Jesuit Masse said, " Do not 
profane them, for they are sacred." "• Profane them ! " returned 
Kirke ; " since you tell me that, I Avill keep them, which I would not 
have done otherwise. I take them because you believe in them, for I 
will have no idolatry." 



CHAPTER XVn. 

1632-1635. 
DEATH OF CHAMPLAIN. 

New France restored to the French Crown. — Zeal of Cham« 
PLAIN. — The English leave Quebec. — Return of Jesuits. 
— Arrival of Champlain. — Daily Life at Quebec. — Propa- 
GANDiSM. — Policy and Religion. — Death of Champlain. 

On Monday, the fifth of July, 1632, fimery de 
Caen anchored before Quebec. He was commissioned 
by the French Crown to reclaim the place from the 
English ; to hold for one year a monopoly of the fur- 
trade, as an indemnity for his losses in the war; and, 
when this time had expired, to give place to the 
Hundred Associates of New France.^ 

By the convention of Suza, New France was to be 
restored to the French Crown ; yet it had been matter 
of debate whether a fulfilment of this engagement was 
worth the demanding. That wilderness of woods 
and savages had been ruinous to nearly all connected 
with it. The Caens, successful at first, had suffered 
heavily in the end. The Associates were on the 
verge of bankruptcy. These deserts were useless 
unless peopled; and to people them would depopulate 

1 Articles accordes au Sr, de Caen ; Acte de Protestation du Sr. de 
Caen. 



1632.] OLD AND NEW FRANCE. 457 

France. Tims argued the inexperienced reasoners of 
the time, judging from the wretched precedents of 
Spanish and Portuguese colonization. The world 
had not as yet the example of an island kingdom, 
which, vitalized by a stable and regulated liberty, has 
peopled a continent and spread colonies over all the 
earth, gaining constantly new vigor with the matchless 
growth of its offspring. 

On the other hand, honor, it was urged, demanded 
that France should be reinstated in the land which 
she had discovered and explored. Should she, the 
centre of civilization, remain cooped up within her 
own narrow limits, while rivals and enemies were 
sharing the vast regions of the West? The com- 
merce and fisheries of New France would in time 
become a school for French sailors. Mines even 
now might be discovered; and the fur-trade, well 
conducted, could not but be a source of wealth. 
Disbanded soldiers and women from the streets might 
be shipped to Canada. Thus New France would be 
peopled and old France purified. A power more 
potent than reason reinforced such arguments. 
Richelieu seems to have regarded it as an act of 
personal encroachment that the subjects of a foreign 
crown should seize on the domain of a company of 
which he was the head; and it could not be sup- 
posed, that, with power to eject them, the arrogant 
minister would suffer them to remain in undisturbed 
possession. 

A spirit far purer and more generous was active 



458 DEATH OF CHAMPLAIK [1632. 

in the same behalf. The character of Champlain 
belonged rather to the Middle Age than to the 
seventeenth century. Long toil and endurance had 
calmed the adventurous enthusiasm of his youth into 
a steadfast earnestness of purpose ; and he gave him- 
self with a loyal zeal and devotedness to the pro- 
foundly mistaken principles which he had espoused. 
In his mind, patriotism and religion were inseparably 
linked. France was the champion of Christianity, 
and her honor, her greatness, were involved in her 
fidelity to this high function. Should she abandon 
to perdition the darkened nations among whom she 
had cast the first faint rays of hope? Among the 
members of the Company were those who shared his 
zeal ; and though its capital was exhausted, and many 
of the merchants were withdrawing in despair, these 
enthusiasts formed a subordinate association, raised a 
new fund, and embarked on the venture afresh.^ 

England, then, resigned her prize, and Caen was 
despatched to reclaim Quebec from the reluctant 
hands of Thomas Kirke. The latter, obedient to an 
order from the King of England, struck his flag, 
embarked his followers, and abandoned the scene of 
his conquest. Caen landed with the Jesuits, Paul le 
Jeune and Anne de la None. They climbed the 
steep stairway which led up the rock, and, as they 
reached the top, the dilapidated fort lay on their 
left, while farther on was the stone cottage of the 
Huberts, surrounded with its vegetable gardens, — 

1 Etat de la depense de la Compagnie de la Nouvelle France. 



1S33.] CHAMPLAIN RESUMES COMMAND. 459 

the only thrifty spot amid a scene of neglect. But 
few Indians could be seen. True to their native 
instincts, they had, at first, left the defeated French 
and welcomed the conquerors. Their English partiali- 
ties were, howerer, but short-lived. Their intrusion 
into houses and store-rooms, the stench of their 
tobacco, and their importunate begging, though 
before borne patiently, were rewarded by the new- 
comers with oaths and sometimes with blows. The 
Indians soon shunned Quebec, seldom approaching 
it except when drawn by necessity or a craving 
for brandy. This was now the case; and sev- 
eral Algonquin families, maddened with drink, were 
howling, screeching, and fighting within their bark 
lodges. The women were frenzied like the 'men. It 
was dangerous to approach the place unarmed. ^ 

In the following spring, 1633, on the twenty- third 
of May, Champlain, commissioned anew by Riche- 
lieu, resumed command at Quebec in behalf of the 
Company. 2 Father le Jeune, Superior of the mis- 
sion, was wakened from his morning sleep by the 
boom of the saluting cannon. Before he could sally 
forth, the convent door was darkened by the stately 
form of his brother Jesuit, Brebeuf, newly arrived; 
and the Indians who stood by uttered ejaculations of 
astonishment at the raptures of their greeting. The 
father hastened to the fort, and arrived in time to 

1 Relation du Voyage fait ^ Canada -pour la Prise de Possession du 
Fort de Quebec par les Frangois in Mercure Frangais, XVIII. 

2 Voyage de Champlain in Mercure Frangais, XIX. ; Lettre de Caen 
a . . . 



460 DEATH OF CHAMPLAIN. [1633. 

see a file of musketeers and pikemen mounting the 
pathway of the cliff below, and the heretic Caen 
resigning the keys of the citadel into the Catholic 
hands of Champlain. Le Jeune's delight exudes in 
praises of one not always a theme of Jesuit eulogy, 
but on whom, in the hope of a continuance of his 
favors, no praise could now be ill bestowed. "I 
sometimes think that this great man [Richelieu], 
who by his admirable wisdom and matchless conduct 
of affairs is so renowned on earth, is preparing for 
himself a dazzling crown of glory in heaven by the 
care he evinces for the conversion of so many lost 
infidel souls in this savage land. I pray affection- 
ately for him every day," etc.^ 

For Champlain, too, he has praises which, if more 
measured, are at least as sincere. Indeed, the Father 
Superior had the best reason to be pleased with the 
temporal head of the colony. In his youth, Cham- 
plain had fought on the side of that more liberal and 
national form of Romanism of which the Jesuits 
were the most emphatic antagonists. Now, as Le 
Jeune tells us, with evident contentment, he chose 
him, the Jesuit, as director of his conscience. In 
truth, there were none but Jesuits to confess and 
absolve him; for the R^coUets, prevented, to their 
deep chagrin, from returning to the missions they 
had founded, were seen no more in Canada, and the 
followers of Loyola were sole masters of the field. ^ 

1 Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 26 (Quebec, 1858). 

2 Memoire faict en 1637 pour I' Affaire des Peres Recollectz . . . 
touchant le Droit qii'ils ont depuis VAn 1615 d'aller en Quanada. J/e- 



1633.] QUEBEC A MISSION. 461 

The manly heart of the commandant, earnest, zealous, 
and direct, was seldom chary of its confidence, or apt 
to stand too warily on its guard in presence of a pro- 
found art mingled with a no less profound sincerity. 

A stranger visiting the fort of Quebec would have 
been astonished at its air of conventual decorum. 
Black Jesuits and scarfed officers mingled at Cham- 
plain's table. There was little conversation, but, in 
its place, histories and the lives of saints were read 
aloud, as in a monastic refectory.^ Prayers, masses, 
and confessions followed one another with an edify- 
ing regularity, and the bell of the adjacent chapel, 
built by Champlain, rang morning, noon, and night. 
Godless soldiers caught the infection, and whipped 
themselves in penance for their sins. Debauched 
artisans outdid each other in the fury of their con- 
trition. Quebec was become a mission. Indians 
gathered thither as of old, not from the baneful lure 
of brandy, for the traffic in it was no longer tolerated, 
but from the less pernicious attractions of gifts, kind 
words, and politic blandishments. To the vital prin- 
ciple of propagandism both the commercial and the 
military character were subordinated; or, to speak 
more justly, trade, policy, and military power leaned 
on the missions as their main support, the grand 
instrument of their extension. The missions were 
to explore the interior ; the missions were to win over 

moire instructif contenant la Conduite des Peres Recollects de Paris en 
leur Mission de Canada. 

1 Le Jeune, Relation, 1634, 2 (Quebec. 1858). Compare Du Creux, 
Historia Canadensis, 156. 



462 DEATH OF CHAMPLAm. [1635. 

the savage hordes at once to Heaven and to France. 
Peaceful, henign, beneficent, were the weapons of 
this conquest. France aimed to subdue, not by the 
sword, but by the cross ; not to overwhelm and crush 
the nations she invaded, but to convert, civilize, and 
embrace them among her children. 

And who were the instruments and the promoters 
of this proselytism, at once so devout and so politic ? 
Who can answer? Who can trace out the crossing 
and mingling currents of wisdom and folly, ignorance 
and knowledge, truth and falsehood, weakness and 
force, the noble and the base, — can analyze a syste- 
matized contradiction, and follow through its secret 
wheels, springs, and levers a phenomenon of moral 
mechanism? Who can define the Jesuits? The 
story of their missions is marvellous as a tale of 
chivalry, or legends of the lives of saints. For many 
years, it was the history of New France and of the 
wild communities of her desert empire. 

Two years passed. The mission of the Hurons 
was established, and here the indomitable Brdbeuf, 
with a band worthy of him, toiled amid miseries and 
perils as fearful as ever shook the constancy of man ; 
while Champlain at Quebec, in a life uneventful, yet 
harassing and laborious, was busied in the round of 
cares which his post involved. 

Christmas day, 1635, was a dark day in the annals 
of New France. In a chamber of the fort, breathless 
and cold, lay the hardy frame which war, the wilder- 
ness, and the sea had buffeted so long in vain. After 



1635.] HIS CHARACTER. 463 

two months and a half of illness, Champlain, stricken 
with paralysis, at the age of sixty-eight, was dead. 
His last cares were for his colony and the succor of 
its suffering families. Jesuits, officers, soldiers, 
traders, and the few settlers of Quebec followed his 
remains to the church; Le Jeune pronounced his 
eulogy,^ and the feeble community built a tomb to 
his honor. 2 

The colony could ill spare him. For twenty- 
seven years he had labored hard and ceaselessly for 
its welfare, sacrificing fortune, repose, and domestic 
peace to a cause embraced with enthusiasm and 
pursued with intrepid persistency. His character 
belonged partly to the past, partly to the present. 
The preux chevalier^ the crusader, the romance- 
loving explorer, the curious, knowledge-seeking trav- 
eller, the practical navigator, all claimed their share 
in him. His views, though far beyond those of the 
mean spirits around him, belonged to his age and his 
creed. He was less statesman than soldier. He 
leaned to the most direct and boldest policy, and 
one of his last acts was to petition Richelieu for men 
and munitions for repressing that standing menace to 
the colony, the Iroquois.^ His dauntless courage 

1 Le Jeune, Relation, 1636, 56 (Quebec, 1858). 

2 Vimont, Relation, 1643,3 (Quebec, 1858). A supposed discovery, 
in 1865, of the burial-place of Champlain, produced a sharp contro- 
versy at Quebec. Champlain made a wiU, leaving 4,000 livres, with 
other property, to the Jesuits. The will was successfully contested 
before the Parliament of Paris, and was annulled on the ground of 
informality. 

8 Lettre de Champlain au Ministre, 15 Aout, 1635. 



464 DEATH OF CHAMPLAIN. [1635. 

was matclied by an unwearied patience, proved by 
life -long vexations, and not wholly subdued even by 
the saintly follies of his wife. He is charged v/ith 
credulity, from which few of his age were free, and 
which in all ages has been the foible of earnest and 
generous natures, too ardent to criticise, and too 
honorable to doubt the honor of others. Perhaps the 
heretic might have liked him more if the Jesuit had 
liked him less. The adventurous explorer of Lake 
Huron, the bold invader of the Iroquois, befits but 
indifferently the monastic sobrieties of the fort of 
Quebec, and his sombre environment of priests. 
Yet Champlain was no formalist, nor was his an 
empty zeal. A soldier from his youth, in an age of 
unbridled license, his life had answered to his max- 
ims ; and when a generation had passed after his visit 
to the Hurons, their elders remembered with astonish- 
ment the continence of the great French war-chief. 

His books mark the man, — all for his theme and 
his purpose, nothing for himself. Crude in style, 
full of the superficial errors of carelessness and haste, 
rarely diffuse, often brief to a fault, they bear on 
every page the palpable impress of truth. 

With the life of the faithful soldier closes the 
opening period of New France. Heroes of another 
stamp succeed; and it remains to tell the story of 
their devoted lives, their faults, follies, and virtues. 



INDEX. 



Abenakis tribe, the, 298, 

Acadia, I)e Monts petitions for 
permission to colonize, 247 ; 
derivation of name, 247 ; occu- 
pation of, 250-262; Poutrin- 
court and Lescarbot head ex- 
pedition to, 264; Poutrincourt 
determines to make it a new 
France, 281 ; ruin of, 318-329; 
French still keep a hold on, 329 ; 
advantages of establishing forti- 
fied posts in, 330 ; Sir William 
Alexander's attempts to colo- 
nize, 444. 

Adelantado of Florida, the, see 
Menendez de Aviles, Pedro. 

Adirondack Indians, the, 212. 

Adirondack Mountains, the, 3.52. 

Agnies tribe, the, 212. 

Alabama, 15. 

Alava, d', 153. 

Alexander VI., Pope, proclaims 
all America the exclusive prop- 
erty of Spain, 19, 26; Francis 
I. ignores bull of, 204; his ac- 
■ tion repudiated by Pope Paul 
v., 395. 

Alexander, Sir William, attempts 
to colonize Acadia, 444 ; builds 
fort on Cape Breton, 453. 

Algiers, beleaguered by Charles 
v., 23. , 



Algonquin tribe, the, 212, 246, 

344 ; Champlain joins them 

against the Iroquois, 344-360 ; 

broad use of the name, 383. 
Allen's River, 275. 
Allumettes, Isle des, 383. 
Allumettes, Lac des, 384. 
Alphonse, Jean, 229, 258. 
Alva, Duke of, Catherine de Medi- 

cis influenced by, 101. 
Amboise, Peace of, 49. 
America, discovery of , 9, 1 9 ; a 

region of wonder and mystery 

to the Spaniard, 9, 35. 
American civilization, springs of, 

xix. 
Anastasia Island, 132, 141. 
Andastes tribe, the, 407. 
Anderson, 91. 
Ann, Cape, 259. 
Annapolis Harbor, discovered by 

De Monts, 253. 
Annapolis River, the, see ^quille 

River and Dauphin River, 
Anquetil, 219. 
Antarctic France, 27 ; Spain and 

Portugal make good their claim 

to, 32. 
Anticosti, Island of, 203, 205, 234. 
Antonio, Don, offers Gourgues 

command of fleet against Philip 

II., 178. 



466 



INDEX. 



Appalaclie, mysterious mountains 

of, 78. 
Appalache, village of, 12. 
Appalachicola, 12. 
Aquaviva, Claude, 294, 326. 
Ararabec, 220. 
Archer's Creek, 41. 
Arciniega, Sancho de, commis- 
sioned to join Menendez, 105. 
Argall, Capt. Samuel, arrives at 
Jamestown, 312 ; abducts Poca- 
hontas, 312; sails to expel the 
French from coast of Maine, 
313 ; attacks and defeats La 
Saussaye, 314 ; interview with 
La Saussaye, 315; saves his 
prisoners from the wrath of Sir 
Thomas Dale, 319; commands 
a new expedition, 320; demol- 
ishes Port Royal, 321 ; interview 
with Biencourt, 323 ; returns to 
Virginia, 324 ; becomes Deputy- 
Governor of Virginia, 328 ; 
knighted by King James, 329. 
Arkansas River, the, 15. 
Arlac, Sergeant, 65 ; remains to 
fight battles of chief Outina, 
66 ; victory over warriors of 
King Potanou, 67 ; fidelity to 
Laudonuiere, 72 ; disarmed by 
mutineers, 73 ; attacked by the 
Indians, 87 ; embarks against 
the Spanish, 116. 
Armouchiquois Indians, the, 259 ; 
Chief Membertou's hatred for, 
278. 
Aspinwall, Col. Thomas, 187. 
Asticou, Chief, 309, 310. 
Astina, Chief, 83. 
Asturias, knights of, 104. 
Athore, son of Chief Satouriona, 

65. 
Aubert, of Dieppe, 195. 
Aubigne, d', 5. 
Aubry, Nicolas, 252, 254. 



Audubon, J. J., 59. 
Audusta, Chief, 42. 
Avezac, M. d', 219. 
Ayllon, Vasquez de, voyages and 
discoveries of, 11, 39. 



Baccalaos, 192. 
Bacchus, the Island of, 206. 
Bahama Channel, the, 108, 162. 
Bahama Islands, the, 10, 
Bailleul, 314. 
Balsam Lake, 411. 
Balthazar, Christophe, 294. 
Bancroft, George, 7, 160. 
Barcia (Cardenas y Cano), 5, 11, 
13, 19, 70, 99, 100, 105, 109, 
112, 113, 119, 122, 123, 128,132, 
147, 151, 158, 160, 162, 165, 172, 
179, 202. 
Barre, Nicolas, in command of 

the CoKgny colonists, 44. 
Bartrams, the, 59. 
Basanier, 40, 47, 50, 53, 94, 114, 

160, 165, 168. 
Basques, the, 191 ; brisk trade 
with the Indians, 333 ; conflict 
with Pontgrave, 334 ; make 
peace with Pontgrave, 334 ; plot 
to place Quebec in the hands of, 
338. 
Bauldre, Francois de, 239, 
Baumgartens, 192. 
Bayard, Le Chevalier, death of, 

201. 
Bazares, Guido de las, sails to ex- 
plore Florida coasts, 18. 
Beauchamp, Rev. W. M., 413. 
Beaufort, Duchesse de, 290. 
Beaufort River, the, 40. 
Beaufort, South Carolina, 41. 
Beaumont, at St. Croix, 256. 
Beauport (Gloucester, Mass.), 259. 
Beauprd, Vicomte de, 224, 
I Belknap, 225, 329. 



INDEX. 



46T 



Belle Isle, Straits of, 194, 203. 

Belleforest, derivation of the name 
of Canada, 205 ; reality of Ver- 
razzano's voyage, 232. 

Belceil, cliffs of, 348. 

Benin, negroes of, 160. 

Bergeron, 192, 195. 

Berjon, Jean, 256. 

Berthelot, M., 207, 209. 

Berthier, 336. 

Beteta, 18. 

Beverly, 329. 

Beza, Theodore, 49. 

Biard, Pierre, the Jesuit, 186, 192 ; 
named to join Poutrincourt's 
Acadian expedition, 282 ; left 
behind by Poutrincourt, 283, 
292 ; sails for Acadia, 293 ; 
friction with Poutrincourt, 296 ; 
dislike for Indians, 299 ; diffi- 
culty with the Micmac language, 
300 ; studies among the Indians, 
301 ; controversy with Bien- 
court, 304, 305 ; a truce, 305 ; 
relieved by La Saussaye, 307 ; 
at Mount Desert, 309 ; attacked 
by the English, 314 ; experi- 
ences of captives under Captain 
Argall, 318; accompanies Cap- 
tain Argall on another expedi- 
tion, 320; destruction of Port 
Royal, 321 ; accused by Poutrin- 
court of treachery, 321, 322 ; 
returns home, 328. 

Biedma, 16, 17. 

Biencourt, Vice-Admiral, son of 
Poutrincourt, 285, 286 ; gains 
audience of Marie de Medicis, 
287, 292; returns to Acadia, 
294 ; left in charge at Port 
Royal, 297 ; takes young Pont- 
grave prisoner, 297 ; meeting 
with the Armouchiquois Indians, 
298 ; discord and misery, 301 ; 
succor from France, 303; con- 



troversy with the Jesuits, 304 ; 
a truce, 305 ; among the Indians, 
321 ; interview with Captain 
Argall, 323 ; partially rebuilds 
Port Royal, 329 ; advantages of 
establishing fortified posts in 
Acadia, 330. 

Bimini, Island of, fountain of 
eternal youth said to be upon, 
10, 11. 

Biscay, knights of, 104. 

" Black drink," the, Indian belief 
in the properties of, 167. 

Black, Hon. Henry, xxiii. 

Blanc, Cap, 260. 

Block Island, 199. 

Bois-Lecomte, expedition to the 
New World, 27. 

Borgia, General, 179. 

Borgne, Isle du, 383. 

Boston Harbor, 259. 

Bouchette, 335. 

Boulay, 256. 

Bourbon, Charles de, see Soissons, 
Comte de. 

Bourbon, Henri de, see Cond€, 
Prince de. 

Bourdelais, Fran9ois, 168. 

Bourdet, Captain, 70. 

Brant Point, 260. 

Brantome, 5, 202, 219. 

Brazil, 26, 28, 29. 

Brebeuf, Jean de, the Jesuit, 186, 
355, 420; attempts to convert 
the Hurons, 435, 452, 458, 459, 
402. 

Brest, Governor of, feud with Vil- 
legagnon, 25. 

" Breton," the, 83. 

Breton, Cape, name of, 192, 453. 

Breton, Christophe le, escape from 
butchery of Menendez, 145,147. 
Bretons, the, 191. 
Brevoort, J. Carson, 232. 
Briet, Padre Felipe, 137. 



468 



INDEX. 



Brinton, 80. 

Brion-Chabot, Philippe de, con- 
ceives the purpose of planting 
colony in America, 202. 

Brissac, the Marechal de, 377. 

Broad Kiver, 39. 

Brown, John Carter, 187. 

Brule', i:tienne, 403, 408, 410; ad- 
ventures of, 416-419; murdered 
by the Hurons, 419. 

Bry, De, 28, 35, 50, 147, 167. 

Brymner, 455. 

Buckingham, Duke of, 443. 

Burke, 91. 

Byng Inlet, 405. 

Cabot, Sebastian, discoveries of, 
19, 191. 

Caen, jfemery de, trade of New 
France, conferred by the Due 
de Montmorency on, 433 ; " her- 
esy " of, 436 ; hatred of the 
Jesuits, 436 ; success in the fur- 
trade, 437 ; privileges annulled 
by Richelieu, 440; reclaims 
Quebec from the English, 456, 
458. 

Caen, William de, trade of New 
France conferred by the Due de 
Montmorency on, 433 ; success 
in the fur-trade, 437 ; privileges 
annulled by Richelieu, 440. 

Cahiague, the Huron metropolis, 
409, 423, 424, 425. 

Calibogue Sound, 43. 

Callieres, t'oint, 370. 

Caloosa River, the, 79. 

Calos, King of, 79. 

Calumet, the. Rapids of, 392. 

Calvin, John, Huguenots gather 
around, 21 ; pronounced by 
Villegagnon a " frightful here- 
tic," 30, 31 ; Villegagnon's hot 
controversy with, 32 ; his heresy 
infecting France, 204. 



Calvinism, Rochelle the centre 
and citadel of, 265. 

Calvinistic churches, fast gaining 
strength, 23. 

Canada, 19 ; country embraced 
by the name of, 205; deriva- 
tion of the name, 205. 

Canaveral, Cape, 79, 133, 149. 

Cancello, efforts to convert the 
natives, 17; murdered, 18. 

Canseau, 279. 

Cap Rouge, the River of, Cartier 
lands at mouth of, 224; Ro- 
berval casts anchor before, 229. 

Carantouans, the, 410. 

Carayon, Auguste, 294, 305, 320, 
326, 435. 

Carhagouha, 407, 423. 

Caribou, the, Rapids of, 403. 

Carillon, Rapids of, 378. 

Carli, Fernando, 231. 

Carmaron, 407. 

Caro, Annibal, 232. 

Caroline, Fort, 56, 60 ; discontent 
in, 68 ; famine and desperation 
at, 89; defenceless condition of, 
117; attacked by the Spanish, 
119-125 ; the massacre, 126-128 ; 
the fugitives, 128-130; repaired, 
162. See also San Mateo, Fort. 

Cartier, Jacques, efforts to plant 
colony in Spanish Florida, 19, 
1 92 ; most eminent in St. Malo, 
203; sails for Newfoundland, 
203 ; voyage a mere recounois- 
sance, 203 ; receives second 
commission from Chabot, 204 ; 
sets out on second expedition, 
204 ; reaches the St. Lawrence 
River, 205 ; meeting with the 
Indians, 206; visit to Chief 
Donnacona, 207, 208; resolves 
to go to Hochelaga, 208 ; warned 
by the Indians to desist, 209; 
sets out for Hochelaga, 210 ; 



INDEX. 



469 



reception by the natives, 213- 
215; farewell to Hochelaga, 
215; reaches Quebec, 215; ex- 
pedition afflicted with scurvy, 
216; fort of, 216; waning 
friendship of the Indians, 216; 
takes Dounacona and his chiefs 
forcibly on board ship, 218; 
sails for France, 218; appointed 
Captain-General of a new expe- 
dition, 220 ; again sets sail for 
the New World, 223 ; again 
reaches Quebec, 223 ; sails up the 
St. Lawrence River, 224 ; lands 
at mouth of the River of Cap 
Rouge, 224 ; explores rapids 
above Hochelaga, 224 ; aban- 
dons New France before Ro- 
berval's arrival, 225 ; ordered 
to return but escapes, 225 ; later 
life of, 226 ; 358. 

Casco Bay, 258. 

Cathay, kingdom of, Verrazzano 
despatched by Francis I. to find 
westward passage to, 196. 

Cazenove, Lieutenant, 171. 

Chabot, 202 ; gives Cartier a 
second commission, 204 ; in dis- 
grace, 219. 

Chaleurs, the Gulf of, Cartier en- 
ters, 203. 

Challeux, 4, 112, 113 ; escape from 
the massacre of Fort Caroline, 
124, 125, 127, 129 ; 133, 145, 146. 

Chalmers, 225. 

Chambly, Basin of, 348. 

Chambly River, the, 348. 

Champdore, 254, 262. 

Champlain, Madame de, among 
the Indians at Quebec, 431 ; 
later history of, 432. 

Champlain, Samuel de, 5; fore- 
most in forest chivalry, 181 ; 
the Father of New France, 185 ; 
writings of, 185; other authori- 



ties concerning, 186; map of 
Quebec, 207 ; finds remains of 
Cartier's fort, 216; sterling 
merits of, 241 ; visits the West 
Indies and Mexico, 241-243 ; 
his journal, 242; erratic cliar- 
acter of some of his exploits, 
243 ; accepts post in De Chastes' 
expedition to New France, 246 ; 
expedition sets sail, 246; ex- 
plores the St. Lawrence River, 
246 ; tries to pass rapids of St. 
Louis, 246; return to France, 
247 ; important charts made by, 
253 ; discovers St. Croix, 253 ; 
Mount Desert visited and named 
by, 258 ; on the coast of New 
England, 258-261 ; trouble with 
the Indians, 260; undertakes 
a voyage of discovery with Pou- 
triucourt, 269; failure, 270; 
return to Port Royal, 271 ; 
"L'Ordre de Bon-Temps," 273; 
life at Port Royal, 274, 275; 
evil tidings, 276 ; Port Royal 
must be abandoned, 277 ; sails 
for France, 279 ; radical de- 
fect in scheme of settlement, 
280 ; kindly relations with the 
Indians, 280; embarks on a 
new enterprise to the New 
World, 331 ; views of col- 
onization, 332 ; lays the 
foundations of Quebec, 337 ; 
conspiracy revealed to, 338 ; 
winter sufferings at Quebec, 342 ; 
return of Pontgrave, 343 ; hopes 
of finding a way to China, 343 ; 
joins the Hurons and Algon- 
quins agairst the Iroquois, 344- 
360 ; victory over the Iroquois, 
357 ; disposition of the prison- 
ers, 358 ; return to Quebec, 359 ; 
returns to France, 361 ; relates 
his adventures to the King at 



470 



INDEX. 



Fontainebleau, 361 ; violent ill- 
ness of, 361 ; again sets sail for 
the New World, 362; advan- 
tages of alliance with the Mon- 
tagnais and the Hurons, 362 ; on 
the St. Lawrence, 362 ; war with 
the Iroquois, 363-367; returns 
to Erance, 368 ; encounters ice- 
bergs, 369; returns to Tadous- 
sac, 369 ; lays the foundations 
for Montreal, 370 ; trading with 
the Hurons, 370, 371 ; taken 
down the rapids of St. Louis, 
371; in France again, 372; 
gains the protection of the 
Comte de Soissons, 372 ; De 
Soissons confers vice-regal pow- 
ers in New France upon, 373 ; 
the life of New France alone in, 
374 ; his two great objects, 374 ; 
efforts to establish a trading 
company, 374 ; deceived by 
Vignau, 377 ; hastens to follow 
up Vignau's reported discov- 
eries, 377 ; difficulties of the 
journey, 378-384 ; amazement 
of the natives, 384 ; Chief Tes- 
souat gives a feast in honor of, 
385, 386 ; asks for canoes and 
men to visit the Nipissings, 387 ; 
Tessouat refuses, 388 ; Vignau's 
falsehoods disclosed, 389-391 ; 
return to Montreal, 392 ; clem- 
ency to Vignau, 393 ; religious 
zeal of, 394; takes four of the 
Recollet Friars to New France, 
to convert the Indians, 397 ; on 
the track of Le Caron, 403 ; at 
Lake Nipissing, 404 ; discovery 
of Lake Huron, 405 ; regarded 
by the Hurons as their cham- 
pion, 407 ; meeting with Le 
Caron, 407 ; the first mass, 408 ; 
sets out on tour of observation, 
409; on Lake Ontario, 411; at- 



tack on the Iroquois, 414; 
wounded, 415; loses prestige 
with the Indians, 416; forced 
to winter with the Hurons, 416 ; 
lost in the forest, 421 ; made 
umpire of Indian quarrels, 425 ; 
returns to Quebec, 426 ; forced 
to rebuild at Quebec, 427 ; his 
difficulties at Quebec, 429 ; his 
efforts in behalf of the trading 
company, 430, 431 ; brings Ma- 
dame de Champlain to Quebec, 
431 ; a new monopoly, 433 ; ar- 
rival of Jesuits, 435 ; the Com- 
pany of New France, 440-442 ; 
refuses to surrender Quebec to 
Kirlie, 446 ; forced to capitulate, 
449 ; his character that of the 
Middle Age rather than of the 
seventeenth century, 458; re- 
sumes command at Quebec, 459 ; 
death of, 463 ; severity of his 
loss to the colony, 463; esti- 
mate of, 463, 464. 

Charavay, 431. 

Charente River, the, 39. 

Charles I., of England, aids the 
rebels in France, 443 ; restores 
New France to the French 
Crown, 454 ; letter to Sir Isaac 
Wake concerning restoration 
of New France to the French 
Crown, 454. 

Charles V., beleaguers Algiers, 
23; 219. 

Charles VIII, 195. 

Charles IX., 41 ; helpless amid 
storm of factions, 49; 56, 101 ; 
petition for redress against 
Spain, to, 147 ; demands redress 
from Spain for massacres in 
Florida, 153 ; claims discovery 
of Florida prior to Columbus, 
153, 192 ; demands that Menen- 
dez be punished for massacres 



INDEX. 



471 



in Florida, 155, 156; refused 
redress, and submits, 157 ; fast 
subsiding into the deathly em- 
brace of Spain, 157. 
Charlesbourg-Royal, 225. 
Charlesfort, 41. 

Charles River, the, 259. 

Charlevoix, Pierre Francois Xa- 
vier de, 5, 101, 128, 158, 162, 
168, 171, 207, 216, 237, 238, 292, 
336, 355, 387, 441, 444, 453. 

Charnock, 104. 

Chastes, Aymar de, 243, 244; fi- 
delity to the King, 244 ; reason 
and patriotism his vv^atchword, 
244; receives patent for expe- 
dition to New France, 245 ; death 
of, 247. 

Chatham Harbor, 269. 

Chatillon, 232. 

Chaton, Estienne, 235. 

Chats, Falls of the, 380. 

Chaudiere, the, cataracts of, 379. 

Chaudiere, Lake of the, 380. 

Chauveton, 147. 

Chauvin, Captain, plans for fur- 
trading, 239 ; sets out on enter- 
prise, 240 ; death of, 245. 

Chauvin, Pierre, left in charge at 
Quebec, 361. 

Chefdhotel, despatched to bring 
convicts back from Sable Island, 
238 ; robs the convicts, but is 
forced to disgorge, 238. 

Chenonceau River, the, 41. 

Chesapeake Bay, 103 ; Men end ez 
urges immediate Spanish occu- 
pation of, 149. 

Chevalier, 276. 

" Cheveux Releves," the, 424. 

Chicora, 39. 

China, hopes of Champlain to 
find a way to, 343. 

Choisy, TAbbe de, 290. 

Cibola, wonderful land of, 38. 



Clark, Gen. John S., 413. 

Cod, Cape, 260. 

Cohasset, shores of, 260. 

Cointac, 29, 30. 

Colden, 212. 

Coligny, Fort, 28. 

Coligny, Caspar de, effort to build 
up a Calvinist France in Amer- 
ica, 3 ; admiral of France, 22 ; 
a tower of trust, 23,30; repre- 
sentative and leader of Protes- 
tantism of France, 34; plans 
second Huguenot colony to the 
New World, 34; the Puritans 
compared to colonists of, 35 ; 
again strong at Court, 49 ; re- 
quires Laudonniere to resign 
his command, 94; Philip II. 
demands his punishment for 
planting French colony in 
Florida, 154 ; waning power 
of, 157. 

Colombo, Don Francisco, 242. 

Columbus, discoveries of, 9, 19. 

Company of New France, the, 
formed by Richelieu, 440; ter- 
ritory conferred on, 440 ; powers 
granted to, 440; requirements 
of, 441 ; the King heaps favors 
upon, 442 ; gives succor to Que- 
bec, 443. 

Conde, of the civil wars, 373. 

Conde, Prince de, 22; aspires to 
the Crown, 34; varying popu- 
larity of, 49 ; assumes protec- 
torship of New France, 373 ; 
history of, 373, 374 ; imprison- 
ment of, 431 ; the Due de Mont- 
morency purchases the lieuten- 
ancy of New France from, 
43L 

Conde, the great, victor at Rocroy, 
373. 

Cordner, Rev. John, 187. 

Coronado, 15. 



472 



INDEX. 



Cortes, Hernando, conquers Mex- 
ico, 11, 

Cosette, Captain, 114. 

Costa, Mr. de, 232. 

Cotou, Father, confessor to Henry 
IV., 281 ; urges the King to 
attach some Jesuits to Poutrin- 
court's expedition to Acadia, 
282. 

Coudouagny, the god, 209. 

Couexis, King, 43. 

Council of the Indies, the, 222. 

Cousin, said by the French to be 
the discoverer of America, 190. 

Crow Indians, the, 350, 351. 

Crown Point, 354. 

Cuba, 10, 11. 

Cumberland Head, 352. 

Cunat, Charles, 221. 

Dacotah, the, remoter bands of, 
386. 

Dale, Sir Thomas, Governor of 
Virginia, 313 ; commissions Cap- 
tain Argall to expel the French 
from the coast of Maine, 313 ; 
wrath against Captain Argall's 
prisoners, 319. 

Daniel, Captain, exploit of, 453. 

"Dauphine," the, 197. 

Davila, 97. 

Dawson, Doctor, 212, 247. 

Debre', Pierre, 165, 168. 

De Chastes, Commander de, see 
C hastes, Ay mar de. 

De Choisy, the Abbe, see Choisi/, 
I'Abbe' de. 

Deffiat, Marechal, 440. 

Delaborde, 35, 49. 

De Monts, Sieur, see Guast, Pierre 
du. 

Denis of Honfleur, explores the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence, 195. 

Desdames, 446. 

Pesimoni, Signor, 232, 



De Soto, Hernando, see Soto^ Her^ 
nando de. 

Des Prairies, 365, 366. 

Deux Eivieres, the, 403. 

Diamond, Cape, 337. 

Dionondadies, the, 424. 

Dolbeau, Jean, 397 ; experiences 
among the Indians, 398. 

Dolphins, the, River of, 50, 113. 

Donnacoua, Chief, 207 ; Cartier's 
visit to, 207, 208 ; forcibly taken 
on board Cartier's ship, 218; 
baptized, 221 ; death of, 221 ; 
222. 

Dry Mountain, 308. 

DuCreux, 461. 

Du Jardin, 293. 

Du Pare, in command at Quebec, 
369, 392. 

Du Plessis, Pacifique, 397. 

Dupont, war-ships of, 39. 

Du Quesne, 293. 

Durantal (Darontal), Chief, 416, 
422; goes to Quebec with 
Champlain, 426. 

Dutch, the, find their way to the 
St. Lawrence River, 276. 

Du Thet, Gilbert, arrived in Aca- 
dia, 304 ; returns to France, 
305 ; again sails for A.cadia, 307 ; 
death of, 314. 

Duval, plot to kill Champlain and 
deliver Quebec to the Basques 
and Spaniards, 339 ; arrested 
and executed, 339, 340. 

Edelano, island of, 79. 

Eden, 190, 192. 

Eliot, Charles, 261. 

Eliot, Charles W., 261. 

Elizabeth, Queen, 47. 

England, Florida claimed by, 19 ; 

relinquishes Quebec, 458. 
English colonization, compared 

with French colonization, 399. 



INDEX. 



473 



Entragues, Henriette d*, see Ver- 

neuil. Marquise de. 
ifcquille River, the, 262 ; explored 

by Lescarbot, 271. 
Eries, the, 407. 

Espiritu Santo, Bay of, 14, 17. 
Esquimaux, the, 398. 
Estaucelin, 190, 192, 195. 
Etechemius, the, 259. 
Etechemins, la Riviere des, 253. 
Eternal youth, fountain of, 10. 
Europe, Spain the incubus of, 20. 

Fairbairn, 91. 

Earibault, G. B., 187, 193, 207, 
216, 217, 338. 

Farrar, Capt. Constance, 454. 

Fayal, 326. 

Eenner, Town of, 413. 

Eeret, M., 243. 

Fernald, Mr., 310. 

Eernandina, 39. 

Ferriere, la Roche, sent as emis- 
sary to distant tribes, 78. 

Fiche, Isle de, 194. 

Fichet, Isle, 194. 

Fisher, 207. 

Fishot Island, 194. 

Five Confederate Nations, the, 
344. 

Fleury, Capt. Charles, 307, 309, 
315, 328. 

Florida, knowledge of localities 
connected Avith French occu- 
pancy of, vii ; political and reli- 
gious enmities, 3 ; Huguenot 
occupation of, 3 ; authorities for, 
3 ; Ponce de Leon explores and 
names, 11 ; Ponce de Leon at- 
tempts to plant colony in, 11; 
coast outline becomes known 
to Spaniards, 1 1 ; expedition of 
Narvaez to, 12; De Soto plans 
to conquer, 13 ; Cabeza de Vaca 
makes false statements concern- 



ing, 13, 14 ; plan for colonization 
of, 18; territory embraced by 
name of, 19 ; rival claims to, 19 ; 
second Huguenot expedition to, 
33 ; Laudonuiere's expedition to, 
48; coveted by Sir John Haw- 
kins for England, 92 ; arrival of 
the Spaniards in, 95 ; Menendez 
commissioned to conquer, 100; 
Menendez takes formal posses- 
sion of, 113 ; French and Span- 
ish claims concerning discovery 
of, 153 ; Gourgues lands in, 164; 
abandoned by the Jesuits in dis- 
gust, 179. 

Folsom, Charles, xxiv. 

Fontanedo, 1 1 . 

Forquevaulx, Sieur de, 154; de- 
mands redress for France from 
Spain for massacres in Florida, 
155, 156. 

Forster, 192, 225. 

Fort George Island, 163. 

Foucher, 445. 

Fougeray, 256. 

Fourneaux, overpowers Laudon- 
niere during illness, 72 ; compels 
Laudonniere to sign commission 
for West India cruise, 73 ; for- 
tunes of the expedition, 75; 
captured by La Caille, 75 ; 
court-martialled and shot, 76, 
77. 

Fran^aise, la Baye, 252. 

France, Florida claimed by, 19 ; 
Spanish jealousy of, 19; vitality 
of, 21 ; corruption and intrigue 
run riot in, 22 ; Huguenot influ- 
ence in colonizing the New 
"World, 27 ; gliding towards 
religious wars, 33 ; trembling 
between the Catholics and the 
Huguenots, 101 ; indignation 
over the Spanish massacres in 
Florida, 145 ; the true pioneer 



474 



INDEX. 



of the Great West, 181 ; pecu- 
liar part assumed on borders of 
the New World, 189 ; claims dis- 
covery of America, 189, 190; 
vitality wasted in Italian wars, 
195; defeat in Italy, 201 ; loss 
of Milan, 201 ; death of Bayard, 
201 ; invasion of Provence, 201 ; 
captivity of Francis I., 201 ; 
heresy of Calvin infecting, 204 ; 
Spain jealously guards America 
from the encroachments of, 221- 
223 ; plunged into fratricidal 
war, 233 ; advent of Henry IV,, 
240; policy to mingle in In- 
dian politics, 345 ; the cham- 
pion of Christianity, 458. 

" France in the New World," story 
of, xix. 

France-Roy, 229. 

Francis I., of Angouleme, crown 
passes to, 1 95 ; despatches Ver- 
razzano to find westward pas- 
sage to Cathay, 196; captivity 
on the field of Pavia, 201 ; 
treacherous escape from captiv- 
ity, 202 ; ignores bull of Alex- 
ander VI., 204 ; sinking to his 
ignominious grave, 219. 

Francis IL, 25. 

Francis, Saint, of Assisi, charac- 
teristics of, 395, 396. 

Franciscans, the, 104, 396 ; relax 
their ancient rigor, 396. 

Franklin Inlet, 405. 

French, the, knowledge of locali- 
ties connected with occupancy 
of Florida, vii; their dominion 
a memory of the past, xxii. 

French Cape, 36. 

French colonization, compared 
with English colonization, 399. 

French Protestantism, in America, 
crushed by Menendez, 180. 

Frenchman's Bay, 308. 



Frontenac, Count, 207. 

Fuudy, Bay of, explored by De 

Monts, 252; 317. 
Fur-trade, infancy of, 234, 235. , 

Gaffarel, 5, 153, 157, 190, 193. 

GaiUard, M., 160, 162, 165. 

Gaillon, Michel, 230. 

Galicia, knights of, 104. 

Gambie, Pierre, 79. 

Gauabara, 26, 28 ; faUs a prey to 

the Portuguese, 32. 
Garay, Juan de, voyages of, 11. 
Garcilaso de la Vega, 10, 13, 14, 

17, 18, 19. 
Garneau, 336. 
Garonne River, the, 39. 
Gas (Guast), Mont du, 337. 
Gaspe, Cartier plants a cross at, 

203; 333. 
Gastaldi, map of, 149. 
Genesee River, the, 407. 
Genesee, the, valley of, 353. 
Geneva, Huguenots find refuge at, 

21 ; sends large deputation to 

the New World, 27. 
Genre, plans to kill Laudonni^re, 

69, 70. 
George, Lake, 353. 
Georgia, State of, 15. 
Georgian Bay, 405. 
Germany, the heresy of Luther 

convulsing, 204. 
Gilbert, abortive attempt to settle 

near mouth of the Kennebec 

River, 297. 
Gironde River, the, 39. 
Gloucester Harbor, 259, 269. 
Goat Island, 262. 
Godfrey, 102. 
Gomara, 10, 13, 190, 193. 
Gorges, 329. 

Gosselin, M., 226, 234, 236, 238. 
Gouldsborough Hills, 308. 
Gourgue, Captain, 5. 



INDEX. 



475 



Gourgues, Dominique de, hatred 
of the Spaniards, 158 ; early life 
of, 159 ; resolves on vengeance, 
159 ; his band of adventurers, 
160; the voyage, 161 ; his plan 
divulged, 161 ; warmly wel- 
comed by the Indians, 1 63 ; 
lands in Florida, 164; joins 
forces Avith Chief Satouriona 
against the Spaniards, 165 ; at- 
tack on the Spaniards, 171 ; vic- 
tory over the Spaniards, 172; 
successfully attacks Fort San 
Mateo, 173 ; execution of Span- 
ish prisoners, 1 75 ; his mission 
fulfilled, 1 76 ; return to France, 
177 ; coldly received by the 
King, 178; invited by Queen 
Elizabeth to enter her service, 
178; accepts command of fleet 
against Philip II., 178; sudden 
death, 178 ; tribute to, 178. 

Gourgues, Yicomte A. de, 5, 7, 
158, 160. 

*' Grace of God," the, 295. 

Granada, Spain's final triumph 
over infidels of, 9. 

Grand Bank, the, 333. 

Grandchemin, 126. 

Grande Isle, 352. 

Granville, 336. 

Gravier, Gabriel, 239, 307. 

Great Head, 308. 

Great Lakes, the, 362. 

Green Mountain, 308. 

Green Mountains, the, 352. 

Grotaut, 78. 

Grotius, 179. 

Guast, Pierre du, petitions for 
leave to colonize Acadia, 247 ; 
plans for the expedition, 248 ; 
pledges to Rome, 249 ; expe- 
dition sets sail, 250 ; Catholic 
and Calvinist, 250; sights Cap 
la Heve, 251 : awaits arrival of 



Pontgrav(^, 251 ; proceeds to St, 
Mary's Bay, 251 ; the lost priest, 
252 ; discovers Annapolis Har- 
bor, 253 ; explores the Bay of 
Fundy, 253 ; visits and names 
the St. John River, 253; St. 
Croix chosen as site for new 
colony, 253; Poutrincourt sails 
for France, 256 ; winter miser- 
ies, 257 ; weary of St. Croix, 
258 ; establishes himself at Port 
Royal, 262 ; returns to France, 
262; in Paris, 263; patent re- 
scinded, 276 ; transfers his claims 
to lands in Acadia to Madame 
de Guercheville, 303; passion 
for discovery, 331 ; views of 
colonization, 333 ; sends Pont- 
grave and Champlain to the 
New World, 333; failure to 
gain renewal of his monopoly, 
361 ; acts without it, 361 ; 
moving toward financial ruin, 
368. 

Guast, Riviere du, 259. 

Guercheville, Marquise de, rare 
qualities of, 288; relations of 
Henry IV. with, 288-291 ; be- 
comes the patroness of the 
Jesuits, 292 ; assists Biard and 
Masse to sail for Acadia, 293; 
sends succor to the colony in 
Acadia, 303 ; sweeping grant of 
territory in the New World 
given to, 303, 304; prepares to 
take possession, 306; pious de- 
signs crushed in the bud, 328. 

Guerin, 25, 48, 158, 190, 238. 

Guise, Due de (Fran9ois of Lor- 
raine), 22, 26; varying popu- 
larity of, 49. 

Hackit, Thomas, 38. 
Hakluyt, Richard, 4, 11, 13, 17, 
38, 47, 50, 53, 65, 70, 77, 80, 91, 



476 



IKDEX. 



117, 192, 193, 197, 203, 220, 223, 
225, 226, 234, 235. 

Hamlin, E. L., 310. 

Hampton Beach, 259. 

Hampton Roads, 318. 

Harrisse, Henry, 190, 220, 232. 

Havana, 108, 148. 

Havre, 35. 

Hawes, Nathaniel, 313. 

Hawkins, Sir John, 77 ; comes to 
relief of Laudonniere's company, 
89, 90; description of, 90, 91; 
covets Florida for England, 92 ; 
113; 336. 

Hayti, 108. 

Hazard, 220. 

Hebert, Louis, 428. 

Helyot, 396, 397. 

Henrietta Maria, Queen, impor- 
tant bearing of her dowry upon 
New France, 454. 

Henry II., 25, 27. 

Henry IV., of France, character- 
istics of, 240; patron of Cham- 
plain, 241 ; insists that Poutrin- 
court attach Jesuits to his ex- 
pedition to Acadia, 282 ; mur- 
der of, 286, 287, 368; hope of 
Europe died with, 287 ; relations 
with Marquise de Guercheville, 
289 ; Champlain recounts his 
adventures to, 361 ; attracted by 
Charlotte de Montmorency, 373. 

Henry VIIL, of England, 202. 

Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio de, 
10, 11, 19,190, 192, 232. 

Hilton Head, 39, 41. 

Hispaniola, Gourgues lands at, 
161. 

«' Hochelaga, River of," 205, 207. 

Hochelaga, town of, 208 ; Cartier 
sets out for, 210; Indians of, 
211 ; plan showing defences of, 
212; dwellings of, 212; van- 
ished, 246. 



Holmes, 313. 

Hornot, 191. 

Hospital of the Gray Nuns, thej 
370. 

Hostaqua, Chief, 62 ; promises aid 
in subjecting Indians to rule of 
the French, 78. 

Houel, 394. 

Hudson, Henry, voyage of, 377. 

Hudson River, the, 354, 407. 

Hudson's Bay, 335, 362. 

Huet, Paul, 428. 

Huguenots, the, occupation of Flor- 
ida, 3 ; authorities for, 3 ; fugi- 
tives from torture and death, 
21 ; gather about Calvin, 21 ; 
influence in colonizing the New 
World, 27 ; second colony sails 
for the New World, 33 ; a polit- 
ical as well as a religious party, 
34 ; experiences of the second 
expedition to the New World, 
35-47 ; double tie of sympathy 
between the English Puritans 
and, 92; regarded Spain as 
natural enemy, 152 ; demand 
redress for massacres in Florida, 
1 53 ; droop under Marie de 
Medicis, 287 ; revolt against the 
King, 443. 

Hundred Associates, the, 440-442 ; 
on the verge of bankruptcy, 
456. See also Company of New 
France. 

Hungry Bay, 411. 

Huron Indians, the, 344; Cham- 
plain joins them against the 
Iroquois, 344-360 ; advantages 
to Champlain from alliance 
with, 362 ; Champlain's trading 
with, 370, 371 ; tribal relations, 
405 ; population of, 406 ; regard 
Champlain as their champion, 
407 ; Brebeuf attempts to conr 
vert. 435. 



INDEX. 



477 



Huron, Lake, discovery of, 405. 
Hurou-Iroquois family of tribes, 

the, 211. 
Hyanuis, 269. 

India, passage to, 203. 

ludiaus, the, attack aud kill Ponce 
de Leon, 1 1 ; treatment received 
from De Soto, 14; friendly re- 
ception to Coligny's colonists, 
36 ; familiarity with the colo- 
nists, 42; religious festival of, 
42 ; friendly reception to Lau- 
donniere, 50 ; make offerings to 
pillar erected by Ribaut, 51 ; 
hatred between the tribes, 57 ; 
customs of, 57, 58; villages of, 
58; social distinctions among, 
58 ; French and Spanish treat- 
ment compared, 162; belief in 
properties of the " black drink," 
167 ; meeting with Cartier, 206; 
of Hochelaga, 211 ; kind treat- 
ment received from Champlain, 
Lescarbot, and Poutrincourt, 
280; Biard's dislike for, 299; 
power of dreams among, 354; 
armor used by, 357 ; custom of 
scalping among, 358 ; cannibal- 
ism among, 367 ; worship of the 
Manitou, 379 ; better treated by 
the Prench than by the English, 
459. 

Indies, the, Champlain' s desire to 
find a route to, 374. 

Iroquois Indians, the, 212, 344; 
Champlain joins the Hurons and 
the Algonquins against, 344- 
360; Champlain's victory over, 
857 ; war with Champlain and 
the Montagnais, 363-367; at- 
tacked by Champlain and the 
Hurons, 414 ; attack Quebec, 
433 ; a constant menace to Que- 
bec, 463. 



Iroquois, Riviere des, 348. 

Isle aux Coudres, the, 205, 206. 

Isle de Roberval, 194. 

Isles, Cap aux, 259. 

Isles of Demons, the, legends con- 
cerning, 193 ; Roberval at, 226 ; 
story of Marguerite on, 226-228. 

Isles of Shoals, the, 259. 

Italian wars, vitality of France 
wasted in, 195. 

Jamay, Denis, 397, 398, 427. 

James I. of England, 315; grant 
made to the London Company, 
320. 

James River, the, 302, 311. 

Jamestown, Capt. Samuel ArgaU 
arrives at, 312, 319. 

Jean, Francois, 120. 

Jeannin, President, 377. 

Jeremie, 377. 

Jesuits, the, power over Spain, 96 ; 
abandon Florida in disgust, 179 ; 
strong at court, 281 ; insist on 
taking part in Poutrincourt's 
Acadian expedition, 282 ; Pou- 
frincourt fears them in his 
colony, 283 ; Spanish in origin 
and policy, 283 ; the Marquise 
de Guercheville becomes the 
patroness of, 292 ; supported by 
Marie de Medicis and the Mar- 
quise de Verneuil, 292 ; sail for 
Acadia, 294; arrive at Port 
Royal, 295 ; vast extent of the 
influence of, 295, 296 ; seize 
Poutrincourt for debt, 306 ; the 
RecoUets apply for the assist- 
ance of, 434 ; increasing strength 
of, 435 ; Emery de Caen's hatred 
of, 436. 

"Jesus," the, 89. 

Joachims, the, rapids of, 403. 

"Jonas," the, 265, 307. 

Jordan River, tho, 11, 39. 



478 



INDEX. 



Kamourasea, 336. 

Kennebec River, the, explored by 
Champlain, 258. 

Kingston, 420. 

Kirke, David, 444; demands the 
surrender of Quebec, 446; de- 
feats Roquemont, 447 ; at Ta- 
doussac, 450 ; return to England, 
453, 454 ; receives the honor of 
knighthood, 455. 

Kirke, Gervase, 444. 

Kirke, Henry, 444. 

Kirke, Lewis, 444 ; lands at Que- 
bec, 449 ; 450. 

Kirke, Thomas, 444, 450 ; resigns 
Quebec, 458. 

Kohl, 149. 

Labkador, legends concerning, 
193 ; Cartier coasts the shores 
of, 204 ; derivation of name, 
219. 

La Cadie, see Acadia. 

La Caille, Fran9ois de, 63 ; asks 
Laudonniere to allow the com- 
pany to turn buccaneers, 71 ; 
fidelity to Laudonniere, 72; 
plot to kill, 72 ; captures the 
mutineers, 75 ; embarks against 
the Spanish, 116; interview 
with Menendez, 141. 

La Chenaie, 336. 

La Chere, 44 ; kiUed and eaten 
by his companions, 46. 

Laet, De, 5, 10, 11, 19, 191, 192, 
195, 220, 232, 237, 294. 

Lafitau, 212,351, 355,357. 

La Fleche, Father, attempts to 
Christianize New France, 284, 
285. 

La Grange, Captain, council of 
war, 115, 116 ; drowned, 133. 

La Heve, Cap, De Monts sights, 
251. 

Lairet River, the, 216. 



Lalemant, Charles, 186, 358, 383, 
387, 406, 424, 435, 437. 

La Mota, De, 180. 

La Motte, 256, 314, 315, 328. 

La Noue, Father Anne de, 435, 
436, 458. 

La Popeliniere, 5, 25, 193. 

La Potherie, 207, 336. 

La Roche, Marquis de, plans to 
colonize New France, 235 ; titles 
and privileges conferred, 235, 
236 ; expedition sets out, 236 ; 
lands convicts on Sable Island, 
236; return to France, 238; 
thrown into prison, 238 ; death 
of, 239. 

La Roque, Jean Fran9ois de, 
efforts to plant a colony in Span- 
ish Florida, 19; a new cham- 
pion of New France, 219; 
honors conferred upon, 219; 
powers of, 220 ; detained by 
unexpected delays, 225 ; dis- 
covers Cartier's ships returning 
to France, 225 ; mixed complex- 
ion of company of, 226 ; stern 
punishment of his niece Mar- 
guerite, 226-228 ; arrives at Cap 
Rouge, 229 ; house built, 229 ; 
famine and discontent, 229-230 ; 
severity of rule of, 230 ; ordered 
back to France by the King, 
230; death of, 231. 

LaRoquette.encourages discontent 
felt towards Laudonniere, 69. 

La Routte, 347, 348. 

La Saussaye sails for Acadia, 307 ; 
arrives at Port Royal, 307 ; sails 
to Mt. Desert, 308; discontent 
among his sailors, 309 ; attacked 
and defeated by Captain Argall, 
314 ; interview with Captain 
Argall, 315 ; turned adrift in an 
open boat, 316 ; reaches St 
Malo, 317 ; return home, 328. 



INDEX. 



479 



I^udonni^re, Ren^ de, 4, 40, 47 ; 
origin, 48 ; commands expedition 
to Florida, 48; description of, 
48 ; first sight of Florida, 50 ; 
friendly relations with the In- 
dians, 50-54; selects site for 
the new colony, 54 ; builds a 
fort, 55 ; makes treaty with 
Chief Satouriona, 57 ; breaks 
his faith with Chief Satouriona, 
64 ; determines to make friends 
with Chief Outina, 64; returns 
two prisoners to Chief Outina, 
65 ; discontent among the fol- 
lowers of, 68 ; La Roquette and 
Genre plan to destroy, 69, 70; 
charges sent to France against, 
70; disastrous exchange of 
soldiers for Captain Bourdet's 
sailors, 70 ; asked to allow his 
company to turn buccaneers, 
72 ; fidelity of Ottigny, Vasseur, 
Arlac, and La Caille to, 72 ; 
overpowered by Fourneaux dur- 
ing illness, 72 ; compelled to sign 
commission for West India 
cruise, 73; entire command re- 
organized after the departure 
of the mutineers, 74 ; cap- 
ture of the mutineers, 75 ; court- 
martial of the mutineers, 76, 
77 ; threatened starvation, 81 ; 
hostility of. the Indians, 81 ; 
Outina attacked and captured, 
84 ; ransom promised for re- 
lease of Outina, 85 ; treacherous 
attack of the Indians, 87 ; famine 
and desperation, 89 ; relieved by 
Sir John Hawkins, 90-92; 
arrival of Ribaut, 93 ; required 
to resign his command, 94 ; de- 
termines to return to France to 
clear his name, 95 ; falls ill, 
95; council of war, 115; de- 
fenceless condition of Fort 



Caroline, 117; escape from the 
massacre of Fort Caroline, 124 ; 
358. 

Laudonniere, Vale of the, 55. 

Laverdiere, Abbe, 261. 

La Vigne, 118, 123. 

Le Beau, 336. 

Le Borgne, Chief, 385. 

Le Caron, Joseph, 397 ; noteworthy 
mission among the Indians, 
398-401 ; discovery of Lake Hu- 
ron, 405 ; meeting with Cham- 
plain, 407 ; the first mass, 408 ; 
returns to Quebec, 426. 

Le Cierc, 186, 201, 231, 395, 396, 
397, 398, 401, 406,412, 430, 435. 

Ledyard, L. W., 413. 

Le Jeune, Paul, the Jesuit, 186, 
351, 383, 406, 420, 453, 458, 459, 
460,461,463. 

Le Moyne, Antoine, 4, 50, 55, 56, 
64, 72, 74, 77, 80, 81, 112, 114, 
115, 124, 126, 129, 145, 146, 167. 

Lery, Baron de, attempt at settle- 
ment on Sable Island, 195. 

Lery, Jean de, 28, 30, 31. 

Lescarbot, Marc, 5, 25, 128, 147, 
159, 160, 186, 191, 192, 195, 203, 
205, 217, 220, 230, 232, 234, 235, 
236, 237; sketch of, 263; joins 
Poutrincourt in expedition to 
Acadia, 264 ; first sight of the 
New World, 266 ; arrives at Port 
Royal, 267 ; left in charge of Port 
Royal, 269 ; explores the river 
l:quille, 271 ; life at Port Royal, 
272-275; evil tidings, 276; 
Port Royal must be abandoned, 
277 ; sorrow at leaving Port 
Royal, 279 ; sails for France, 
279 ; radical defect in scheme of 
settlement, 280; kindly relations 
with the Indians, 280, 282, 283, 
284, 287, 293, 294, 297, 305, 322, 
324, 329, 336, 340, 358. 



480 



INDEX. 



Levi, Point, 336. 

Levis, Henri de, see Ventadour, 
Due de. 

Liancourt, M. de, 290. 

Libourne River, the, 40. 

Limoilou, seigniorial mansion of, 
description of, 226. 

Liverpool Harbor, 251. 

Loire River, the, 39. 

Lok, Michael; map of, 149, 190. 

London Company, the, grant made 
by James I. to, 320. 

Long Island, 199, 352. 

Long Saut, the, rapids of, 378. 

Lorraine, Cardinal of, 22, 30, 49. 

Los Martires, 148. 

Louis, the sagamore, 305. 

Louis XIII., gives sweeping grant 
of territory in the New World 
to Madame de Guercheville, 
303 ; power increased by Riche- 
lieu, 439. 

Lowell, Charles Russell, 7. 

Loyola, Ignatius de, the mysteri- 
ous followers of, 435 ; sole 
masters of the field in Canada, 
460. 

Luther, Martin, ** heresies " of, 31 ; 
convulsing Germany, 204. 

Luz, St. Jean de, 190. 

Madeira, 197. 

Magin, Antoiue, 192. 

Maine, seaboard of, 200. 

Maiollo, Visconte di, 231. 

Major, Mr., 232. 

Mai Bay, 450. 

Mallard, Captain, rescues fugitives 

from Fort Caroline, 129. 
Malo, M., 336. 
Malta, Knights of, 23. 
Manitou, the, Indian worship of, 

379. 
Manitoualins, the spirit-haunted, 

405. 



Marais, 343, 347, 348, 349. 

Marets, Burgaud des, 228. 

Marguerite, story of her experi- 
ences on the Isles of Demons, 
226-228. 

Marguerite de Valois, 229. 

Marot, -psalms of, 34. 

Marquette, Jacques, second dis- 
covery of the Mississippi, 1 5. 

Marshall, 0. H., 383, 413. 

Marshfield,. shores of, 260. 

Martin, 336. 

Martines, map of, 149. 

Martyr, Peter, 10, 11, 190, 192. 

Massachusetts Bay, 259. 

Massachusetts Indians, the, 259. 

Masse, Enemond, 292 ; sails for 
Acadia, 294; ill success among 
the Indians, 301 ; relieved by 
La Saussaye, 307 ; turned adrift 
in an open boat, 316; reaches 
St. Malo, 317; 435. 

Matanzas, Inlet, 36, 133. 

Matchedash, Bay of, 405, 409. 

Mattawan, the, 403. 

Mavila, Indian town of, 17. 

May, River of, 38, 48, 49, 50, 54, 
163. 

Mayarqua, village of, 65. 

" Mayflower," the, 307. 

May port, village of, 50, 163. 

Mayrra, Chief of the Thimagoas, 
61. 

Medicis, Catherine de, struggle to 
hold balance of power, 22, 40 ; 
41 ; helpless amid storm of 
factions, 49 ; leanings toward 
Spain, 101 ; defends rights of 
the French in Florida, 154, 155. 

Medicis, Marie de, becomes regent 
of France, 287 ; characteristics 
of, 287 ; supports the Jesuits, 
292. 

Membertou, Chief, 268, 274, 27« ; 
grief at parting with the colo- 



INDEX. 



481 



nists, 278; characteristics of, 
278 ; war with the Armouchi- 
quois, 278 ; welcomes Pou- 
triucourt, 284 ; converted to 
Christianity, 284 ; religious en- 
thusiasm of, 285 ; remarkable 
character of, 299 ; death of, 300. 

Mendoza Grajales, Francisco Lo- 
pez de, 6 ; account of Meneudez' 
expedition, 106, 107, 108, 109, 
112,113, 114, 118, 120, 128, 131, 
132, 134, 139. 

Menendez, Bartholomew, 131. 

Menendez de Aviles, Pedro, 6 ; 
boyhood of, 98 ; early career of, 
98, 99; petition to Philip IL, 
99 ; commissioned to conquer 
Florida, 100; powers granted to, 
100, 103; plans of, 100, 103; 
force strengthened, 102; a new 
crusade, 102; formation of his 
force, 104 ; Sancho de Arciniega 
commissioned to join, 105 ; sail- 
ing of the expedition, 1 05 ; as- 
sailed by a terrible storm, 106 ; 
haste to reach Florida, 108 ; 
first sight of Florida, 109 ; 
first sight of Ribaut's ships, 110; 
interview with the French, 111; 
the French flee before, 112; 
founds St. Augustine, 113; 
takes formal possession of Flor- 
ida, 113 ; a storm saves his ships 
from the French attack, 118, 
119; attack on Fort Caroline, 
119-125 ; the massacre, 126-128 ; 
return to St. Augustine, 131 ; 
tidings of the French, 132 ; 
interview with the French, 
135 ; promises of protection, 137 ; 
treachery of, 138 ; massacre of 
the French, 139 ; interview with 
Ribaut, 142 ; further treachery 
and murder, 143, 144 ; exagge- 
rated reports to Philip II., 148 ; 



Charles IX. demands his pun- 
ishment for massacres in Flor- 
ida, 155, 156; high in favor in 
Spain, 179; re-establishes his 
power in Florida, 179 ; given 
command of the Spanish 
Armada, 179 ; sudden death of, 
180; crushed French Protest- 
antism in America, 180; Cana- 
dian fur-trade, 234. 

Mercafcor, Gerard, map of, 205. 

Mercoeur, Due de, 238, 241. 

" Mer Douce," the, 405. 

Mery, 329. 

Mexico, Cortes' conquest of, 11; 
Champlain visits, 243. 

Mexico, Gulf of, 19. 

Meyrick, 356. 

Mezeray, 160. 

Miamis, the, cannibalism among, 
367. 

Michel, Captain, 444; bitterness 
against the Catholics, 451 ; death 
of, 452, 453. 

Micmac Indians, the, 259. 

Milan, France loses, 201. 

Mississippi River, the, 13; dis- 
covered by De Soto, 15 ; second 
discovery of, by Marquette, 15. 

Mississippi, State of, 15. 

Mitchell, Henry, 261. 

Mohawk Indians, the, 212, 354. 

Mohawk River, the, 353. 

Mohawk, the, valley of, 353. 

Mohier, Brother Gervais, experi- 
ence with the Indians, 428. 

Mollua, Chief of the Thimagoas, 
62. 

Moluccas, the, 148. 

Monomoy Point, 269. 

Monroe, Fortress, 318. 

Montagnais Indians, the, 335, 359 ; 
advantages to Champlain of 
alliance with, 362 ; war with the 
Iroquois, 363-367. 



31 



482 



INDEX. 



Montcalm, 207, 

Monteil, 190. 

MoDtgomery, 207. 

Montluc, Blaise de, 160. 

Montmorency, Charlotte de, 373. 

Montmorency, Due de (Anne), 
22. 

Montmorency, Due de, purchases 
the lieutenancy of New "France 
from Conde, 431 ; suppresses the 
company of St. Malo and Rouen, 
and confers the trade of New 
Trance to William and Emery 
de Caen, 433 ; sells his vice- 
royalty to the Due de Venta- 
dour, 434 ; holds ancient charge 
of Admiral of France, 440 ; sells 
it to Eichelieu, 440. 

Montpensier, Due de, 159. 

Montreal, 210 ; Champlain lays 
the foundations for, 370; im- 
portance as a trading-station, 
428. 

Montreal, Mountain of, 211. 

Moorish wars, the, 9. 

Motte, Isle a la, 352. 

Mount Desert, Island of, visited 
and named by Champlain, 258 ; 
La Saussaye arrives at, 308. 

Mount Desert Sound, 310. 

Munster, map of, 149. 

Murphy, Henry C, 232. 

Muskrat Lake, 383. 

Nantasket Beach, 260. 

Nantes, Jean de, 230. 

Narvaez, Pamphilo de, expedition 

to Florida, 12 ; death of, 12. 
Nassau River, the, 169. 
Natel, Antoine, 338. 
Nation of Tobacco, the, 424. 
Nausett Harbor, 260. 
Navarre, 22. 
Navarrete, 193. 
Neutral Nation, the, 406. 



New England, unfaithful to the 
principle of freedom, 438 ; com- 
pared with New France, xx; 
438. 

Newfoundland, 103, 148, 149; 
visited by Bretons and Nor- 
mans, 192 ; importance of the 
fisheries of, 193; Verrazzano 
reaches, 200 ; Cartier sails for, 
203 ; trade steadily plied at, 
233. 

New France, compared with New 
England, xx ; 438 ; tragical open- 
ing of the story of, 3 ; Cham- 
plain the father of, 185 ; divi- 
sion of, 205; La Roche plans 
to colonize, 235 ; De Chastes' 
expedition to, 246; Poutrin- 
court's attempts to Christianize, 
284; the Jesuits in, 296; the 
Comte de Soissons granted vice- 
regal powers in, 372, 373 ; the 
Prince de Conde assumes pro- 
tectorship of, 373 ; in Cham- 
plain alone the life of, 374 ; 
poor prospects of, 375; insep- 
arable blending of spiritual 
and temporal interests iu, 394 ; 
Richelieu remedies the affairs 
of, 440 ; to be forever free from 
taint of heresy, 441 ; Kirke 
wrests power from the French 
in, 449; restored to French 
Crown by Charles I., 454 ; ex- 
planation of Charles I.'s willing- 
ness to make restoration to the 
French Crown of, 454. 

New Mexico, 19. 

Newport, 199. 

Newport, Captain, ships of, 311. 

Newport Mountain, 308. 

Newport News, 318. 

New Spain, 12. 

New York, Dutch trading houses 
of, 303. 



INDEX. 



483 



Niagara, Falls of, 247. 

Nibachis, Chief, 384. 

Nichols Pond, 413. 

Nipissiug Indians, the, 387 ; vil- 
lage of, 404 ; promise to guide 
Champlain to the northern sea, 
424. 

Nipissing, Lake, Champlain at, 
404. 

Noel, Jacques, 235. 

Noirot, Father, 435. 

Norembega, 920, 258. 

Normans, the, 191. 

North Carolina, coast sighted by 
Verrazzano, 197. 

"Northern Paraguay," the, 304; 
strangled in its birth, 330. 

Nottawassaga Bay, 405. 

Oathcaqua, Chief, 80*. 

O'Callaghan, Dr. E. B., 187, 194, 
325. 

Ogilby, 192. 

Old Point Comfort, 318. 

Olotoraca, Chief, 167, 169, 171. 

Onatheaqua, King, 62. 

Oneida, Lake, 411, 413. 

Onondaga Indians, the, 412, 413, 

Onondaga, Lake, 413. 

Onondaga, the, valley of, 353. 

Ontario, Lake, Champlain on, 
411. 

" Ordre de Bon-Temps, 1'," 273. 

Orillia, town of, 409. 

Orleans, Channel of, 246. 

Orleans, the Island of, 206, 336. 

Ortelius, second map of, 205 ; di- 
vision of New France, 205. 

Orville, Sieur de', 255, 256. 

Otis, 261. 

Otouacha, Huron town of, 406. 

Ottawa Lidians, the, 387. 

Ottawa River, the, 344, 400, 403. 

Ottigny, Lieutenant, 52, 53, 59, 
60; the Thiraagoas offer to 



point out gold and silver to, 61- 
fidelity to Laudonniere, 72; dis- 
armed by mutineers, 73 ; joins 
Chief Outina against King Pota- 
nou, on promise of being shown 
gold mines, 80; victory over 
King Potanou, 81 ; attacked by 
the Indians, 87 ; council of war, 
115 ; embarks against the Span- 
ish, 116; murdered by the 
Spanish, 147. 

Ouade, King, 43. 

Outina, Chief, 57 ; lord of all the 
Thimagoas, 62 ; Laudonniere 
determines to make friends 
with, 64 ; Laudonniere returns 
two prisoners to, 65 ; Vasseur 
promises to join against King 
Potanou, 66; victory over war- 
riors of King Potanou, 67 ; asks 
further aid of the French against 
King Potanou, promising to 
show gold mines, 80 ; victory 
over King Potanou, 81 ; refuses 
assistance to the colonists, 83; 
attacked and captured by the 
colonists, 84 ; ransom promised 
for release of, 85. 

Overman, Captain, 383. 

Palatka, 59. 

Palfrey, John G., 438. 

Palms, River of, 19. 

Panuco River, the, Spanish settle- 
ment on, 1 7. 

Parkhurst, Anthonie, 193. 

Parmentier, Jean, 192, 195. 

Parry Sound, 405. 

Passamaquoddy, Bay of, 247, 253. 

Passamaquoddy Indians, the, 253. 

Patino, 113. 

Paul v.. Pope, 179; repudiates 
action of Pope Alexander VI. 
in proclaiming all America the 
exclusive property of Spain, 395. 



484 



IN^DEX. 



Pavia, field of, 201. 
"Pearl," the, 127. 
Pemetigoet River, the, 258. 
Peuetanguishine, Harbor of, 405. 
Penobscot River, the, 258. 
Perez, Fernando, 122. 
Peru, conquest of, 13. 

Petuneux, the, 424. 

Philip II., 6, 21, 97, 103; com- 
missions Meneudez to conquer 
Florida, 100; approval of 
Menendez' slaughters in Florida, 
147, 151 ; resents expeditions of 
Ribaut and Laudonniere to 
Florida, 153; demands that 
Coligny be punished for plant- 
ing a French colony in Florida, 
154; refuses to give redress for 
Menendez' massacres in Florida, 
155, 156; Gourgues takes com- 
mand of fleet against, 178. 

Pierria, Albert de, left in com- 
mand of the colonists by Ribaut, 
41 ; extreme severity of, 44 ; 
murdered by his men, 44. 

Pinkerton, 234. 

Pinzon, 190. 

Pizarro, Francisco, conquest of 
Peru, with De Soto, 13. 

Place Royale, see Montreal. 

Plymouth, 330. 

Plymouth Company, the, grant 
made by James I. to, 320. 

Plymouth Harbor, 260. 

Pocahontas, abducted by Capt. 
Samuel Argall, 312 ; married 
to Rolfe, 312. 

Point Allerton, 260. 

Pointe k Puiseaux, 337. 

Pointe aux Rochers, la, 333, 

Pointe de Tons les Diables, la, 
333. 

Pommeraye, Charles de la, 204, 
210. 

Ponce de Leon, Bay of, 148. 



Ponce de Leon, Juan, sets out to 
find fountain of eternal youth, 
10; bargain with the King, 11 ; 
explores and names Florida, 
1 1 ; attempt to plant colony in 
Florida, 11 ; death of, 11; new 
discoveries following those of, 
11. 

Pons, Antoinette de, see Guerche- 
ville, Marquise de. 

Pontbriand, Claude de, 204, 210. 

Pontgrave, plans for fur-trading, 
239 ; sets out on enterprise, 241 ; 
takes part in De Chastes' ex- 
pedition to New France, 245, 
246 ; overtakes De Monts, 251 ; 
left in command at Port Royal 
by De Monts, 262 ; life at Port 
Royal, 267 ; sails for France, 
269 ; commands ship sent by 
De Monts to trade with the 
Indians, 333 ; conflict with the 
Basques, 333, 334 ; makes peace 
with the Basques, 334 ; sails for 
France, 340 ; return to Tadous- 
sac, 343 ; remains in charge at 
Quebec, 343 ; returns to France, 
361. 

Pontgrave (the younger), causes 
Poutrincourt trouble with the 
Indians, 296 ; taken prisoner by 
Biencourt, 297. 

Poore, B. P., 186. 

Popham, abortive attempt to settle 
near the mouth of the Kennebec 
River, 297. 

Porcupine Islands, 308. 

Port Fortune, 269; treacherous 
slaughter at, 280. 

Port la Heve, 285. 

Port Mallebarre, 260. 

Port Mouton, 251. 

Porto Rico, harbor of, 107. 

Port Royal, 253, 256; De Monts 
establishes himself at, 262 ; Les- 



INDEX. 



485 



carhot arrives at, 267 ; life at, 
267 ; description of, 272 ; must 
be abandoned, 277 ; radical de- 
fect in scheme of settlement, 
280 ; no attempt to enforce re- 
ligious exclusion, 280 ; Poutrin- 
court arrives at, 284 ; conversion 
of the natives to Christianity, 
284 ; the Jesuits arrive at, 295 ; 
friction between spiritual and 
temporal powers, 296 ; misery 
at, 301 ; endless strife over, 304 ; 
La Saussaye arrives at, 307 ; 
demolished by Captain Argall, 
321 ; partially rebuilt by Bien- 
court, 329 ; restitution to France, 
455. 

Fort Royal, South Carolina, 39, 
40, 103, 104. 

Port Royal Basin, 267. 

Port St.'Louis, 260. 

Portsmouth Harbor, 259. 

Portugal, 26; makes good its 
claim to " Antarctic France," 
32. 

Portugal, King of, sole acknowl- 
edged partner with Spain in 
ownership of the New World, 
222. 

Portuguese, the, Ganabara falls a 
prey to, 32. 

Postel, 191. 

Potanou, King, 57, 62; Vasseur 
joins Chief Outina against, 66 ; 
victory over, 67 ; Ottigny joins 
Chief Outina against, 80 ; vic- 
tory over, 81. 

Poutrincourt, Baron de, 248 ; asks 
to remain on Annapolis Harbor, 
253 ; sails for France, 256 ; re- 
solves to go in person to Acadia, 
263 ; joined by Lescarbot, 264 ; 
first sight of the New World, 
266 ; arrives at Port Royal, 
867 ; continues with Champlain 



on a voyage of discovery, 269 ; 
failure, 270; return to Port 
Royal, 271; "I'Ordre de Bon- 
Temps," 273 ; life at Port Royal, 
274, 275; evil tidings, 276; 
Port Royal must be abandoned, 
277 ; sails for France, 279 ; radi- 
cal defect in scheme of settle- 
ment, 280 ; kindly relations with 
the Indians, 280 ; determines to 
make Acadia a new France, 
281 ; influence acting against 
his schemes, 281 ; the King in- 
sists that Jesuits be added to 
the Acadian expedition, 282 ; 
a good Catholic, 282 ; fears the 
Jesuits in his colony, 283 ; sets 
sail for Port Royal, 283 ; mu- 
tiny on board ship, 284 ; at- 
tempts to Christianize New 
France, 284; narrow escape 
from drowning, 286 ; friction 
with Biard, 296 ; sails for 
France, 297 ; accepts aid from 
Madame de Guercheville, 303 ; 
seized by the Jesuits for debt, 
306 ; accuses Biard of treachery, 
321, 322 ; visit to Port Royal, 
329 ; death at Mery, 329. 

Prescott, 97. 

Prescott Gate, 337. 

Prevost, Robert, 128, 147, 160, 
162, 168. 

Protestantism, Coligny the repre- 
sentative and leader in France, 
34. 

Prout's Neck, 259. 

Provence, invasion of, 201. 

Purchas, 13, 19, 91, 192, 225, 
234, 237, 239, 266, 313, 322, 323, 
324, 329, 340. 

Puritans, the, landing of, 35 ; com- 
pared with Coligny's colonists, 
35; double tie of sympathy 
betAveen the Huguenots and. 



486 



INDEX. 



92; regarded Spain as natural 
enemy, 152; of New England, 
438. 

Quebec, 19; language of, 206; 
early name of, 207 ; Champlain's 
map of, 207 ; the Indians of, 
212; Cartier at, 215, 223; ori- 
gin of name, 336; Champlain 
lays the foundation of, 337 ; plot 
to put Basques and Spaniards 
in possession of, 338; winter 
sufferings at, 342 ; Pontgrave 
remains in charge at, 343 ; 
Chauvin of Dieppe in charge 
at, 361 ; Champlain bids fare- 
well to, 368; Du Pare in com- 
mand at, 369 ; signs of growth 
faint and few at, 427 ; half trad- 
ing factory, half mission, 429; 
bad state of affairs at, 432 ; at- 
tacked by the Iroquois, 433; 
rival traders at, 433 ; population 
of, 437 ; the Company of New 
France give succor to, 443 ; 
the English at, 445, 446 ; suffer- 
ing at, 447 ; on the verge of 
extinction, 448 ; restitution to 
France, 455 ; reclaimed from 
the English, 456; Champlain 
resumes command at, 459; be- 
comes a mission, 461 ; propa- 
gandism at, 461 ; policy and re- 
ligion at, 462. 

Quentin, Father, sails for Acadia, 
307, 320. 

Quirpon Island, 194. 

Kabelais, 228. 

Eame', 226, 235, 236. 

Eamusio, 13, 192; map of, 192, 

193, 220; 195, 197, 201, 203, 

212, 231. 
Rand, 247. 
Ranke, 159. 



Rathery, 228. 

Ravaillac, murders Henry IV"., 
286, 287; execution of, 359. 

Razilly, Claude de, 453. 

Recollet Friars, 395; authorized 
by Pope Paul V., to convert the 
Indians, 395; four of their num- 
ber sail for New France with 
Champlain, 397 ; choose a site 
for their convent, 397 ; assign- 
ment of labors, 397 ; build a 
stone house for defence, 427 ; 
missions established by, 434; 
apply for the assistance of the 
Jesuits, 434; unable to return 
to their missions, 460, 

Red River, 13. 

Reform, the, 22, 23. 

Religious wars, the, France glid- 
ing toward, 33. 

Ribauld, 3. 

Ribaut, Jacques, 127, 128, 130. 

Ribaut, Capt. Jean, 3 ; commands 
second Huguenot expedition to 
the New World, 35 ; experi- 
ences in Florida, 35-41 ; friendly 
reception by the Indians, 36 ; 
delightful first impressions of 
Florida, 37; journal of, 38; 
embarks for France, 41 ; In- 
dians make offerings to the 
pillar erected by, 51 ; arrival in 
Florida to relieve Laudonniere, 
93 ; arrival of the Spaniards in 
Florida, 95, 110; flees before 
the Spanish ships, 112; council 
of war, 115 ; bold plan of, 115 ; 
letter from Coligny, 115 ; char- 
acteristics of, 116; misfortunes 
of, 133 ; interview with Menen- 
dez, 142 ; treachery and murder, 
143, 144, 146, 147. 

Richelieu, supreme in France, 439 ; 
strengthens the royal power, 
439 J annuls the privileges of 



INDEX. 



48T 



the Caens, 440 ; forms tho com- 
pany of New France, 440; at 

Eochelle, 443. 
Richelieu River, tlie, 348, 362. 
Rideau, the, 379. 
Rio Janeiro, harbor of, 26. 
Rip Raps, the, 318. 
Robert, Master, 125, 
Roberval, Sieur de, see Rogue, Jean 

Francois de la. 
Robin, associated with Poutrin- 

court in his Acadian scheme, 

281. 
Rochelle, the centre and citadel of 

Calvinism, 265 ; Richelieu at, 

443. 
Rocher Capitaine, the, 403. 
Rohan, Catherine de, Duchesse de 

Deux-Ponts, 288. 
Rolfe, marries Pocahontas, 312. 
Rome, 30. 
Roquemont, 443 ; defeated by 

Kirke, 447. 
Rossi gnol, 251. 
Rougemont, Philippe, death of, 

217. 
Royal, Mont, 215. 
Ruscelli, map of, 149, 153. 
Russell, A. J., 383. 
Rut, John, 192. 
Rye Beach, 259. 

Sable, Cape, 251, 317. 

Sable Island, Baron de Lery's at- 
tempt at settlement on, 195 ; 
La Roche lands convicts on, 
236; left to their fate, 237; 
Ohefdhotel despatched to bring 
them home, 238. 

Saco Bay, 259. 

Saco River, the, 259, 355. 

Sagard, Gabriel, 186, 250, 355, 
357, 367, 383, 395, 398, 401, 405, 
406, 419, 427, 430, 446, 448. 

Saguenay River, the, 206, 239, 334. 



St. Ann's, 378. 

St. Augustine, 50 ; founding of, 
113; Menendez returns in tri- 
umph to, 132. 

St. Augustine, Fort, 147. 

St. Bartholomew, carnage of, 101. 

St, Charles River, the, 207, 337. 

Saint Cler, 118. 

St. Croix, site of new colony, 253 ; 
fort built, 254; winter miseries, 
257 ; De Monts weary of, 258. 

St. Croix, Island of, 253, 320; 
settlement on, 322. 

St. Croix River, the, 207 ; bound- 
ary line between Maine and 
New Brunswick, 254. 

St. Elena, 104. 

St. Helen, Island of, 377. 

St. Helena, 39. 

St. Jean, 336. 

St. John, 207. 

St. John, the Bay of, 192; Rober- 
val enters, 225. 

St. John, Islets of, 348. 

St. John River, the, visited and 
named by De Monts, 253. 

St. John (Richelieu) River, the, 
348. 

St. John's Bluff, 52, 55, 121. 

St. John's River, the, 38, 50, 51, 
54, 59, 65,110. 

St. Just, barony of, in Champagne, 
owned by Poutrincourt, 283. 

St. Lawrence, Bay of, 205. 

St. Lawrence, Gulf of, 103; ex- 
plored by Denis of Honfleur, 1 95. 

St. Lawrence River, the, 148, 
149; Cartier reaches, 205, 224', 
Roberval sails up, 229; Cham- 
plain explores, 246, 336 ; the 
English on, 453. 

St, Louis, castle of, 427. 

St. Louis, Lake of, 371. 

St. Louis, Rapids of, Champlain 
tries to pass, 246, 371. 



488 



INDEX. 



St. Louis River, the, 348. 

St. Malo, town of, 202, 226 ; sends 

out fleet for Canadian fur-trade, 

235; 204, 223, 317. 
St. Martin, mines of, 149. 
St. Mary's Bay, De Monts enters, 

251, 2'54. 
St. Mary's (Chesapeake) Bay, 103. 
St. Mary's River, the, 39, 163. 
St. Peter, Lake of, 246, 347. 
St. Quentin, victory of, 98. 
St. Roche, 336. 
St. Roque, 207. 
St. Sauveur, La Saussaye arrives 

at, 308 ; 310. 
Sainte Marie, council of war, 115. 
Salazar, 137. 
San Agustin, 113. 
San Mateo, Fort, 150; repaired, 

162 ; Gourgues' attack on, 173; 
rebuilt hy Menendez, 179. 

" San Relay o," the, flagship of 
Menendez, 104, 107, 108, 110, 
112, 113, 114. 

Santander, 179, 180. 

Santander, Dr. Pedro de, 18. 

Santilla River, the, 163. 

Sarrope, Island of, 80. 

Satouriona, Chief, 51 ; makes 
treaty with Laudonniere, 57 ; 
Vasseur makes false report to, 
63 ; expedition against the 
Thimagoas, 63 ; hatred toward 
Laudonniere's company, 81 ; 
warm Avelcome to Gourgues, 

163 ; cruel treatment from the 
Spaniards, 164 ; joins with 
Gourgues against the Spaniards, 
165; attack on the Spaniards, 
171 ; victory over the Spaniards, 
172. 

Saut an Recollet, 436. 

Saut St. Louis, 370, 392, 417. 

Savalet, 279. 

Savannah River, the, 43. 



Schooner Head, 308. 

Scituate, shores of, 260. 

Seine River, the, 39. 

Seloy, Chief, 113, 119, 132. 

Seneca Indians, the, 413. 

Severn River, the, 409. 

Seville, Cardinal of, 222. 

Sewell's Point, 318. 

Shea, John Gilmary, xxiii. 

Sibley, John Langdon, 7. 

Simcoe, Lake, 409, 411. 

Sismondi, 219, 374. 

Sister Creek, 170. 

Skull Creek, 40. 

Slafter, Edmund F., 261. 

Smith, Buckingham, 12, 19, 104, 
180, 223, 232, 329. 

Smith, Capt. John, 312. 

Snake Indians, the, 350. 

Soames's Sound, 310. 

Society of Jesus, the, 282, 295, 304. 

Soissons, Comte de, granted vice- 
regal powers in New France, 
372 ; confers them upon Cham- 
plain, 373 ; death of, 373. 

Soli's, Dr., de las Meras, 6 ; ac- 
count of Menendez' expedition, 
132, 134, 135, 137, 138, 139. 

" Solomon," the, 89. 

Sorel, town of, 348. 

Sorel River, the, 348. 

Soto, Hernando de, conquest of 
Peru with Pizarro, 13; plans to 
conquer Florida, 13 ; treatment 
of Indians by, 14 ; discovers the 
Mississippi, 15 ; death and burial 
of, 16 ; his fate an insufficient 
warning to adventurers, 17. 

Sourin, 256, 

South Seas, the, 104. 

Spain, final triumph over infidels 
of Granada, 9 ; exalted ideas of 
America, 9 ; Florida claimed by, 
19 ; Papal bull gives Florida to^ 
19, 26; jealousy of France, 19j 



IKDEX. 



489 



the incubus of Europe, 20 ; 
makes good its claim to " Ant- 
arctic France," 32 ; watching 
to crush the hope of humanity, 
33 ; sends expedition to Florida, 
95 ; subject to the monk, the 
inquisitor, and the Jesuit, 96 ; 
the citadel of darkness, 97 ; 
Catherine de Medicis turns 
toward, 101 ; ascendancy of the 
policy of, 101 ; regarded by Eng- 
lish Puritans and French Hugue- 
nots as their natural enemy, 
1 52 ; Charles IX. demands re- 
dress for massacres in Florida, 
153; refuses redress, 156; 
Charles IX. fast subsiding into 
the deathly embrace of, 157; 
jealously guards America from 
encroachments of the French, 
221-223. 

Spanish Armada, the, Meuendez 
given command of, 179. 

Spanish Florida, efforts to plant a 
colony in ancient, 19. 

Sparks,' Jared, 169,187. 

Stadacone, language of, 206. 

Stith, 329. 

Stow, 91. 

Straits of BeUe Isle, 203, 204, 226. 

Stuart, Mary, of Scotland, espou- 
sals with Francis II., 25. 

Sturgeon Lake, 411. 

Suffolk, Lord, 336. 

Sully, 247 ; loses his power under 
Marie de Medicis, 287. 

Susane, 356. 

Susquehanna River, the, 418. 

Suza, Couvention of, restores New 
France to the French Crown, 
456. 

" Swallow/' the, 90. 

Swan, Major, Indian belief in 
properties of the " black drink," 
1G7. 



Tadoussac, efforts to establish 
fur-trade at, 239, 245, 246, 251, 
333 ; centre of the Canadian 
fur-trade, 334 ; fur-traders at, 
368 ; importance as a trading- 
station, 428 ; 446. 

Tadoussac, Bay of, 331. 

Talbot Inlet, 169. 

Tampa Bay, 12, 14. 

Tequeuonquihaye, Huron town of, 
407. 

Ternaux-Compans, 4, 11, 12, 14, 
18, 50, 53, 106, 125, 127, 128, 
160, 217. 

Tessouat, Chief, location of vil- 
lage of, 384 ; remarkable grave- 
yard of, 385 ; gives a feast in 
honor of Champlain, 385, 386 ; 
refuses to give Champlain ca- 
noes and men to visit the Nipis- 
sings, 387. 

Tetu, reveals conspiracy to Cham- 
plain, 338. 

Thevet, Andre, 15, 29, 194, 205, 
206, 222, 228, 230, 231, 234. 

Thimagoa Indians, the, 54, 57, 59 ; 
offer to point out gold and 
silver to Ottigny, 61 ; Vasseur 
makes alliance with, 62 ; Satou- 
riona's expedition against, 63. 

Thomas, Champlaiu's interpreter, 
388. 

Thou, De, 5. 

Three Rivers, importance as a 
trading-station, 428. 

Thunder Bay, 405. 

Ticonderoga, Fort, 353. 

" Tiger," the, 90. 

Touaguainchain, Huron town of, 
407. 

Tourmente, Cape, 206. 

Trenchant, 73, 75. 

Trent River, the, 411. 

" Trinity," the, flag-ship of Ribaut, 
110, 112. 



490 



INDEX. 



Trinity, Bay of the, 335. 

Turnel, 325, 326, 327. 

Two Mountains, Lake of, 378. 

Ulpius, Euphrosynus, globe of, 
231. 

Vaca, Alvar Nunez Cabe9a de, 
12 ; false reports concerning 
Florida, 13. 
Vasseur, makes alliance with the 
Thimagoas, 61, 62 ; makes false 
report to Chief Satouriona, 63 ; 
takes prisoners hack to Chief 
Outina, 65 ; promises to join 
Chief Outina against King Pot- 
anou, 66 ; fidelity to Laudon- 
niere, 72 ; 93. 
AT'entadour, Due de, purchases the 
viceroyalty of New France from 
the Due de Montmorency, 434. 
Vera Cruz, 148. 
Verdier, 93. 
Verneuil, Marquise de, supports 

the Jesuits, 292. 
Verrazzano, Hierouimo da, 231, 

232. 
Verrazzano, John, voyage of, 196 ; 
early history of, 1 96 ; despatched 
by Francis I. to find westward 
passage to Cathay, 196 ; doubts 
concerning reality of the voyage, 
196; the voyage begun, 197; 
sights the coast of North Caro- 
lina, 197; meeting with the In- 
dians, 197 ; coasts the shores of 
Virginia or Maryland, 199 ; 
enters the Bay of New York, 
199 ; Long Island, Block Island, 
and Newport, 199; repelled 
along the New England coast, 
200; coasts the seaboard of 
Maine and reaches Newfound- 
land, 200; writes earliest de- 
scription of the shores of the 



United States, 201 ; joyfully re- 
ceived in France, 201 ; misfor- 
tunes of France prevent planting 
a colony in America, 201 ; few 
remaining traces of fortunes of, 
201 ; hanged as a pirate, 202 ; 
supposed shipwreck of, 209 ; 
theories concerning voyage of, 
231, 232. 
Verreau, Abbe, 232. 
Vicente, 113. 
Viel, Nicolas, 435. 
Viger, Jacques, 187, 244. 
Vignau, Nicolas de, volunteers to 
winter among the Indians, 376 ; 
return to Paris, 376 ; remark- 
able report brought by, 376, 
377 ; his falsehoods disclosed, 
389-391 ; allowed to go unpun- 
ished, 393. 
Villafane, Angel de, failure to 

reach Florida, 1 8. 
Villaroel, Gonzalo de, 175. 
Villegagnon, Nicolas Durand de, 
23 ; exploits of, 24, 25 ; char- 
acteristics of, 24 ; expedition to 
the New World, 26 ; severity of, 
27 ; welcome to new colonists, 
28 ; wrangles with the colonists, 
30 ; pronounces Calvin a '* fright- 
ful heretic," 30 ; religious big- 
otry, 31 ; returns to France, 32 ; 
hot controversy with Calvin, 32 
Vimont, 383, 463. 
Vincelot, 336. 

Virginia, English colony of, 303. 
Vitet, 190, 

Wake, Sir Isaac, letter from 
Charles I. explaining restora- 
tion of New France to the 
French Crown, 454. 

Wampum, description of, 425. 

Weir, Lake, 80. 

Wells Beach, 259. 



INDEX. 



491 



West Indies, Champlain visits, 

241-243. 
White Mountains, the, 258. 
Willes, 190, 192. 
William Henry, Fort, 354. 
Williams, Koger, 358. 
Wilmington, North Carolina, site 

of. 197. 



Wolfe, 207. 

Wyfleit, 5, 192 ; map of, 192 ; 193, 
201, 220, 232. 

YoNviLLE, council of war, 115. 
York Beach, 259. 

Zacatecas, mines of, 149. 



Francis Parkman's Works 



NEW LIBRARY EDITION 

PRINTED from entirely new plates, in clear and beau- 
tiful type, upon a choice laid paper. Illustrated with 
twenty-four photogravure plates executed by Goupil from 
historical portraits, and from original drawings and paintings 
by Howard Pyle, De Cost Smith, Thule de Thulstrup, 
Frederic Remington, Orson Lowell, Adrien Moreau, and 
other artists, together with maps. 1 3 vols. Medium 8vo. 
Cloth. Gilt top, in box, ^26.00. Separately as follows: 

France and England in North America 

Part L Pioneers of France $2.00 

Part II. Jesuits in North America 2.00 

Part III. La Salle and Discovery of Great West . 2.00 

Part IV. Old Regime in Canada 2.00 

Part V. Count Frontenac 2.00 

Part VI. Half-Century of Conflict. 2 vols. . . 4.00 

Part VII. Montcalm and Wolfe. 2 vols. . . . 4.00 

Conspiracy of Pontiac. 2 vols 4.00 

The Oregon Trail 2.00 

Life of Parkman 2.00 

Also in sets, 13 vols., half calf or half morocco, extra, gilt 
top, ^58.50 ; half-crushed levant morocco, gilt top, ^78.00. 

POPULAR EDITION 

12 vols., with maps. i2mo. Cloth, in box, ;^ 18.00. 
Separately as follows : 

1. Pioneers of France $i«5o 

2. Jesuits in North AxMERica 1.50 

3. La Salle and Discovery of Great West . . 1.50 

4. Old Regime in Canada 1.50 

5. Count Frontenac 1.50 

6. Half-Century of Conflict. 2 vols 3.00 

7. Montcalm and Wolfe. 2 vols 3.00 

8. Conspiracy of Pontiac. 2 vols. . . . . . 3.00 

9. The Oregon Trail 1.50 

Also in sets, 12 vols., half calf or half morocco, ;^39.oo. 



FRANCIS PARKMAN'S WORKS 

France and England in North America 

I. Pioneers of France in the New World. 

I. Huguenots in Florida. II. Champlain and his 
Associates. 

THE initial volume of a great series of Historical Nar- 
ratives, the publication of which began in i 864 and 
was finished in 1892, describes **the attempt of Feudalism, 
Monarchy, and Rome " to obtain the mastery of the American 
continent, the rise and growth of North America, and the 
conflict of nations, races, and principles for its mastery. He 
had for the scenes of his great historical pictures the whole 
United States and Canada. 

Adventure on the grandest scale, — Atlantic Monthly. 

II. The Jesuits in North America in the 
Seventeenth Century. With a map of the 

country of the Hurons. 

** Few passages of history," writes Mr. Parkman in the 
Preface, " are more striking than those which record the 
efforts of the earlier French Jesuits to convert the Indians.*' 

Mr. Parkman's narrative constantly attests the fidelity, as well as the 
zeal, with which he has examined his authorities. - — Neiv York Tribune. 

III. La Salle and the Discovery of the Great 

West. 

This volume embodies the exploits and adventures of the 
first European explorers of the Valley of the Mississippi ; 
the efforts of the French to secure the whole interior of the 
Continent ; the attempt of La Salle to find a westward 
passage to India ; his colony on the Illinois ; his scheme 
of invading Mexico ; his contest with the Jesuits ; and his 
assassination by his own followers. 



FRANCIS PARKMAN'S WORKS 

IV. The Old Regime in Canada. 

Portrays the attempt of the monarcliical administration 
of France to make good its hold on the North American 
continent. 

The influences which controlled the colony in its beginning and during 
its first century of life — the Roman Catholic mission spirit, and the 
monarchical ambition of Louis XIV". — are delineated in character and 
operation with remarkable skill. — The Literary World. 

V. Count Frontenac and New France under 
Louis XIV. 

Under the rule of Frontenac occurred the first serious 
collision of the great rival powers. . . . This volume shows 
hov/ valiantly, and for a time hov/ successfully. New France 
battled against a fate which her own organic fault made 
inevitable. 

VI. A Half-Century of Conflict. 2 vols. 

The period covered by **A Half- Century of Conflict'* 
is 1700 to 1748, the second volume closing with the peace 
of Aix-la-Chapelle. 

Like others of his works, it reads in many places like fiction, and is 
indeed most delightful reading. — Boston Ad-verther. 

VII. Mont€alm and Wolfe. 2 vols. 

The period covered by this work is 1748-1763. The 
final contest for the control of North America is the subject 
of these two volumes. The work is considered a master- 
piece of military history and the first authentic, full, sus- 
tained, and worthy narrative of these momentous events and 
extraordinary men. 



FRANCIS PARKMAN'S WORKS 



Mr, Parkman's Other Writings 

The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian 
War after the Conquest of Canada. 2 vols. 

This work forms a sequel to the series of historical nar- 
ratives, ** France and England in North America," although 
originally published earlier. Prof. John Fiske pronounced it 
** one of the most brilliant and fascinating books that has ever 
been written by any historian since the days of Herodotus.' ' 

The most satisfactory historical monograph that our literature has 
produced. — The Nation. 

A fascinating narrative of one of the most pregnant episodes in American 
history. — JVestminster Revietv. 

The Oregon Trail. Sketches of Prairie and Rocky 
Mountain Life. 

This ever popular book for young and old describes a 
journey among the Indian Camps and the Rockies by the 
eminent historian in 1 847. Its vivid descriptions of a con- 
dition of country and of Indian life now passed are of peculiar 
interest. 

The most entertaining book of Indian travel — modern Indian travel, 
w^e mean — extant. — TAe Literary World. 

The Life of Francis Parkman. By Charles 

Haight Farnham. 
The authorized biography of Parkman. 

Should come to be recognized as a masterpiece of literary portraiture. 
— Barrett Wendell, in the American Historical Re-vieiv. 

LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., Publishers 

254 WASHINGTON STREET : BOSTON, MASS. 



i^lAR 21 1907 






<?- 









-^ >^ 




\^1 



. /% 



^ ^ 



- "^ 





















^^ 






s 


















%'- 









V 



A*^ %" 



'--fe 



.^^ 






IgT^J^ ^^ % \^|;0/ ^ % -; 1^; 






fP- » 



:i. 



^ ••• ^ \V 

Y « ^ 









X.^^ 



'••■ -p^. 



"--\o^ 






. // .-^'.^'^G^ ^ '/, .^ .^G^ 









'«„ aV 



%. 









'"Q 






A 



'\_ > ♦'. 






• ^^ ^ \%^.\^f' -^ %;^:^..^ 







.<;.. 






^^^ 















'<^^.^^ 







V^ ^-^' 



:^ 






:\. 


4: 







